


What we are pt 5

by AXEe



Series: What we are [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Not Canon Compliant, Vasquez's first name is Susan as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 24,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8277202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: Astra and Alex learn that Fort Rozz has a new leader, Kara faces a new enemy, and Astra meets Eliza Danvers





	1. Broken Blood Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> Ha! Part Five of What we are (yay!!) in case you're wondering how I can write this things in such close order the answer is that I'm an unemployed high school dropout with oodles of free time on my hands.
> 
> OK, now the rest. There are slight spoilers for the season two preemie in here, not much, just an exploration of J'onn and Superman's history that's similar to what we saw in the season two opener, but aside from that this is an entirely original story set in the What we are-verse, unlike Parts Three and Four this one is more like Part Two, where I borrow bits of canon and twist it like play-dough to make it fit, might as well, the writers on the show seem to be doing a bad job of it ever since they killed off Astra (you ever notice how the fans who are writing just for fun always seem to have better imagination than the guys who actually get paid to do this?)
> 
> OK, explanation over, the fic begins...now!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And, oh, lord, won't you leave me?  
Leave me just like this,  
'Cause I belong to the ground, now,  
I want no more than this

\--Florence + the Machine “Mother”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

I closed my eyes as I felt air rush past me. One of the things I enjoy most about being on Earth is the ability to fly, to just…soar, to escape, to be utterly and truly…free 

“Aunt Astra?” I opened my eyes with a feeling of annoyance to see Kara glide alongside me “are you OK?” she asked “you don’t usually go out flying in the daytime”

“I’m fine, little one,” I answered “it’s peaceful up here”

“Yeah it is,” Kara agreed, she frowned “are you sure you’re OK?” she asked hesitantly “‘cause Alex mentioned that you’ve been a little…blue lately”

“It’s exactly three months to the day that Non died,” I began “I didn’t love him, not like Alex, but I…”

“You cared for him” Kara finished, I nodded

“Yes, as I’ve said before we were friends first, long before we were—” something suddenly struck me from behind, hard, knocking me senseless, and all I could do was tumble helplessly as Kara screamed my name. I struck the pavement hard enough to crack it, and for a moment I lay there, wincing at the bone-jarring impact that left me bruised

“Aunt Astra!” I looked up to see Kara land beside me, only for a figure to suddenly land behind her and viciously pull her hair back before pressing a kryptonite blade to her now-exposed throat. I struggled to my feet as I recognized Kara’s assailant, a Kryptonian woman. She was tall, about my height, with short, dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. It was her eyes that gave me pause; they were wide and wild, no trace of sanity in them whatsoever, she was completly and utterly insane, the only way that she would find peace of mind was in death

[Do you recognize me, Astra?] she demanded in our native tongue

[Faora,] I spat out the name as I climbed to my feet [Non’s _sister_ ] she nodded as I felt a pair of hands roughly grab my arms and pulled then behind me, trapping me

[The period of mourning is _over_ , Astra!] Faora snarled [I swore to myself that the coffin that I would see next after my brother’s would be yours!!] I glanced over at Kara who already starting to pass out from the kryptonite

[Release her! She has no part in this, it’s me you want!] I ordered, Faora sneered contemptuously at me

[Do you love your niece, Astra?] she hissed [do you love her like I loved my brother?] I watched horrified as she pressed the tip of the blade closer to Kara’s throat, close enough to draw a tiny amount of blood [I have known loss, Astra. Permit me, to return the favor] there was a sudden streak of red and Faora and Kara went flying apart. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief as I saw Kara’s savior

J’onn J’onzz

He turned and paused at the sight of me, I nodded at him, hoping he understood, he apparently did as he quickly phased _through_ me and my attacker, tearing my assailant off me and hurling them into the ground. I took a breath as I fell to my knees, struggling to regain my equilibrium from the disorienting sensation of having a living being actually pass through you. I looked up to see that J’onn had already helped Kara to her feet, supporting her with one arm, and was now offering me his hand

 ** _“Are you all right?”_** he asked, sounding genuinely concerned, and I almost laughed at the irony, the last time I saw him in his true form I had fought him, nearly killed him, only for Alex to stop me, and now, just three months later, he was saving my life. Back then I respected him as a fellow soldier, and then during our encounter with Indigo I began respect him as a leader, even more so during our encounter with Detective Draper, the surviving guard from Fort Rozz, and now I’ve begun to see him as a friend, one of the few I have here on Earth, ironically finding a kinship with him in the knowledge that we both endured pain and suffering at the merciless hands of others, mine through Fort Rozz, and his through the White Martians, a connection in the knowledge that we both had lost everything we held dear, only to find a home here on Earth

“I’m all right” I nodded as I took his hand and pulled myself up

[Impressive company you’re keeping,] Faora snarled as she quickly got to her feet, she nodded to J’onn [I thought that all of his kind were extinct. Dead and burned with the rest of Mars] J’onn stiffened and drew himself up to his full height

 ** _“I am the last,”_** he proclaimed **_“this world and its people are under my protection”_** he declared, Faora shook her head

[This is not your concern, Martian,] she said, she floated up off the ground, her bodyguard joining her, a man I only vaguely recognized [I would advise you to remain out of my affairs,] she threatened [that is, unless you wish to join your people] with that threat she and her companion turned and took off, disappearing into the sky. I turned to Kara

“Are you all right?” I asked, she rubbed at her throat and nodded

“Yeah,” she took a breath, and turned to J’onn “how’d you get here so fast?” she asked, he smiled and lightly tapped his ear

“Your earpiece” I realized, J’onn nodded

“We picked you up on radar,” he explained as he shifted back into his human form “I sent Supergirl out to investigate why you were out flying in broad daylight when you’re usually good about not exposing yourself, heard the whole exchange,” he looked between us, smirking “now then, anymore in-laws that I should know about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are interested, the character of Faora first appeared in the original pre-Crisis Superman comics, back then she was a Phantom Zone prisoner who was imprisoned for her hatred of men after she killed twenty-three men on Krypton in secret concentration camp (can you say 'anti-feminist' children?) in her later appearances she's more closely linked with the infamous General Zod, often appearing as his right hand (wo)man/wife/mistress(?) along with the usually strong and silent Non. In Richard Donne's Superman movies she was replaced with the equally cold man-hating and almost vampire-like 'Ursa' (wonderfully played by English actress Sarah Douglas)
> 
> Anyway, comic history lesson over, now, tell me what you think. Remember comments are good for you (as Homer Simpson) MMM comments!


	2. Means, motive, and opertunaty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra, Alex, Kara, and J'onn try to figure out Faora's motives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE UPDATE!!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“How long does this mourning period last?” J’onn asked as we, Kara, Alex, myself, and him, all gathered around the table at the DEO

“Two weeks,” Kara explained “we give up daily toil, stop working and focus our thoughts and prayers on our loved ones, guiding them home to Rao, the sun god” there was a sadness in her voice and I wondered, not for the first time, if she had done the rites for her mother, for me, when she first came here

“Why didn’t this ‘Faora’ attack sooner?” J’onn asked “hell, why didn’t she just attack the moment after she found out that Astra killed her brother?”

“Do you really think that she’d let her brother wander alone in the dark?” I demanded, I watched as he blinked, clearly wondering how he offended me

“I’m sorry,” he apologized “I was only—” I waved a hand dismissively and sighed

“No, I’m sorry,” I apologized “the subject of Non’s death is still…sensitive to me” I felt rather than saw Alex reach out and grasp my hand, squeezing tightly

“What I’m wondering,” she began “is why it’s taken Faora so long to attack in the first place, Non’s been dead for three months”

“Perhaps it took her that long to consolidate her power,” I reasoned “to firmly establish herself as leader of the Fort Rozz escapees without question”

“If that’s the case then we’ve got bigger problems on our hands than just Myriad,” J’onn pointed out “because now we’ve got a prison full of aliens all led by someone with a personal vendetta against you”

“A ‘woman’ with a personal vendetta against me” I reminded him

“What?” Alex laughed “you’re saying that Krypton had its own version of ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’?”

“It did” I answered, her smile fell instantly, something I regretted, I like seeing her smile

“What was Faora imprisoned for anyway?” Kara wondered “was she a member of Black Zero?”

“No,” I answered “she had no connection to me or to Black Zero aside from her relation to Non. I have no idea why she was imprisoned; I didn’t even know that she had been imprisoned at all, I assumed that she had died with the rest of Krypton”

“Well,” Alex began “I think we know someone who could tell us”

“Oh, god, you don’t mean…?” Kara moaned, I nodded 

“DEO prisoner 5690,” I recited “Detective Carl Draper, former guard on Fort Rozz” I shook my head

“Day just keeps getting better” Kara muttered

“Yeah,” Alex grumbled, she smirked at me “I’ll hold him down and you punch?” she offered, I chuckled

“We’ll see,” I looked up “Agent Vasquez?” she looked up

“Ma’am?”

“Susan, what’s the status of prisoner 5690?” I asked, I chuckled at the irony that Draper had the same prisoner number as I did in Fort Rozz

“His status, ma’am?” Vasquez asked, I nodded “loud and opinionated” she answered bluntly

“Is he calm enough to question?” Alex asked, Vasquez shrugged

“I suppose so, he’s stopped trying to attack the guards whenever meal time comes around” she answered

“Well,” I sighed “I suppose one of us we’ll have to question him on why Faora-Ur was imprisoned in Fort Rozz”

“Not it” Kara said almost instantly, I rolled my eyes and glanced at Alex

“Don’t look at me,” she exclaimed “if I go in there I’m liable to strangle him” she said, I glanced up at J’onn, he smirked

“Well, Agent In-ze, it looks like it just us” I nodded as I stood up

“So it would seem,” I agreed, I glanced back at my lover and my niece “are you certain either of you won’t sit in on the interrogation?” I inquired

“He tied me to a building!” Kara exclaimed, J’onn rolled his eyes

“Whiner” he grumbled as we walked away


	3. Mothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> J'onn and Astra question Draper, Alex gets mad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY PART FIVE OF WHAT WE ARE HAS BEEN UPDATED!!!
> 
> Don't worry, I'm still writing Strange Visitor but, come on! UPDATE!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, I didn’t tell anyone  
But a bird flew by, saw what I had done  
He set up a nest outside  
And he sang about what I’d become

I picked up the bird, and above the din  
I said, ‘that’s the last song you’ll ever sing!’  
Held him down, broke his neck  
Taught him a lesson he wouldn’t forget

But my dreams  
Began to creep  
That old familiar  
‘Tweet, tweet, tweet’

\--Florence + the Machine: “Bird Song”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“You sure you’re up for this?” J’onn asked as we stood outside Draper’s cell

“No”

“I can always do this myself” he advised, I shook my head

“No, I’m not afraid of him anymore” I told him, he nodded

“All right” the doors opened. Draper sat inside his cell, he looked far too confident for someone is his position

“Tell us about Faora-Ur,” I began, Draper remained silent “why was she imprisoned in Fort Rozz?” again he remained silent “be advised I will gladly come in there and _beat_ the information out of you if need be,” I warned, but still he remained silent, it was beginning to grate on my nerves “if you think that I’m still afraid of you, you’re wrong,” I told him, he still remained silent “ANSWER ME!!” I finally yelled

“I think you are” he said suddenly

“I am _what_?” I demanded

“Still afraid of me” for a moment I contemplated going through with my threat, but then thought better of it, because that would mean just playing right into his hands, proving that he still had a degree of power over me. Instead I turned and stalked out of the room, pausing the corridor

“If we find out that you have information we need,” I heard J’onn began “Astra’s not the only one who’ll come in there and beat it out you,” he warned before he joined me in the corridor “well, that was a waste of time,” he grumbled as the doors shut, he frowned at me “was he right?” he asked “ _are_ you still afraid of him?”

“No,” I answered “not afraid exactly, but…unnerved, unsettled, _disturbed_ , by him”

“You’re not the only one,” he muttered “his self-righteous, warped views of justice give me the creeps” 

“I shouldn’t have lost control like that” I berated myself

“No, you shouldn’t have,” J’onn agreed “but it happens”

“Too often as of late” I worried, J’onn clapped me on the shoulder

“It happens,” he reminded me with a small smile “now you know better” I was about to respond when I heard shouting, Alex shouting specifically

“You **_WHAT??!!_** ”

“Alex, it’s not that bad!” I could hear Kara argue. By this time, J’onn and I had quickly ran back into Command, seeing Kara and Alex in the midst of an argument

“’Not that bad’?” Alex demanded “’not that bad,’ she says, Kara, I can’t believe you **_did_** that!!”

“Will one of you kindly tell us what is going on?” J’onn suddenly bellowed, startling everyone, including me. Alex looked embarrassed, while Kara quickly fled

“I’m sorry, sir,” Alex apologized “it’s…a personal matter, sir” she explained

“Well, then if you wouldn’t mind taking your personal matters _outside_ the DEO, Agent Danvers?” J’onn suggested, Alex nodded stiffly

“Of course, sir.” J’onn slowly nodded before turning and moving to the center of the room. Alex looked at me “can we talk?” she asked quietly, I nodded, now concerned

“Of course, what’s wrong?” I asked as she led me into her lab, she sighed in frustration and raked her fingers through her hair

“Kara told my mother about…us” she explained, I blinked, not quite comprehending for a moment “not about ‘us’,” Alex continued frantically “but she told my mother that I’m dating someone”

“What?” I asked once the information finally sunk in, Alex nodded

“Yeah, and now my mom’s flying up from Midvale”

“What?” I repeated

“Yeah, officially she’s just here to visit,” she explained “but I know that she’ll want to meet my new girlfriend. And don’t say ‘what’ again!”

“Why?” I demanded, I took a breath “no,” I sighed “this is fine, if your mother wishes to meet me, that’s fine, I’ve faced much more terrifying things than your mother”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Alex muttered “I can just see how that conversation will go: ‘hi, mom, this is Astra my new girlfriend, oh by the way she’s an alien and Kara’s aunt, please don’t freak out’, you know what she’ll do? Freak out!” she buried her face in her hands and groaned “god, she’s going to be _so_ disappointed in me! And that’s _after_ she kills me for keeping the fact that Kara still has family a secret from her for so long”

“Mothers are never…easy, are they?” I asked, Alex tentatively looked up at me, I gave her a soft smile “no matter what we do, in their eyes we can always, should always, do more, do better” Alex smiled shyly

“I…guess you have some experience in that department, huh? Being an identical twin in a ‘perfect’ society?” I nodded

“I’ll tell you more later, but now I think it’s time for your lunch break” she chuckled

“My lunch break or yours?” she asked

“Does it matter?” I asked, she shook her head

“Not really” she said

“I heard from Vasquez that the mess hall is serving a ‘fairly decent’ hamburger today” I suggested, Alex grinned and offered me her arm

“Lead the way, General”


	4. Secrets and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets mad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, chapter four of Part five of What we are, this one's a little shorter than the others, but it still drives what little plot this one has forward (in case anyone was wondering, this installment is mostly fluff, with a bit of action later on), thanks to RenaM for commenting, keep it up folks!
> 
> BTW the way, there are slight spoilers for the newest episode of season two, nothing really specific, just a little delving into Winn's past

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“Come on, dude, that’s harsh!”

“No it’s not! It’s security!”

“Oh, what? Using the DEO to actually _ban_ your mom from meeting her? Come on, Alex, that’s just stupid”

“No it’s not; Astra’s an alien, so I could argue that she’s still uncertain of people’s intentions towards her, and that thus meeting my mom might cause her undue stress, so therefore she should remain at the DEO for the duration of my mom’s visit”

“Gah! Now you sound like Lucy and all her legalese”

“Would both of you kindly stop talking about me as if I’m not in the room?” I demanded, both Alex and Winn looked up, Winn looked apologetic, Alex just looked annoyed that she’d been interrupted “I don’t need either of you to fight my battles for me, although thank you Winn for arguing in my favor” he grinned and gave me a thumbs up, which I still found amusing, since on Krypton that was actually an offensive gesture

“No problem” he said

“And as for you,” I turned to Alex “what are you really concerned about? My meeting your mother or her reaction to meeting me?” she scowled at me, but said nothing, I nodded to myself “that’s what I thought”

“OK, look,” Winn spoke up “you’re being crazy Alex,” he said “at least you have a mom, OK? After my father went to prison my mom walked out and I wound up in a foster home, which was basically a bunch of strangers telling you that you should be grateful that someone’s taking you in,” he rolled his eyes “dude, that’s not family, all right? Family is about being there, no matter what, el mayra, remember? And yeah, OK your mom’s probably going to be mad about the fact that you kept Kara’s only living relative secret, and she’ll probably be mad about your, you know, _dating_ said relative, but, come on, it’s not like she’ll…disinherit you or something”

“You don’t know my mother” Alex muttered, a knock at the door caught our attention

“Well, I do know one thing about her” I said

“What’s that?” Winn asked

“She’s here” I answered


	5. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza arrives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Chapter Five of Part Five of What we are (YAY!!!) don't worry fans of Strange Visitor that will updated sometime soon (hopefully) I again want to thank all everyone for commenting on this one and hope you stay with me (especially since the new season is going weird)
> 
> And now...onward!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“What’d you mean ‘she’s here’?” Alex demanded, she turned from staring at the door to glower at me “she’s not supposed to be here until tomorrow” she objected, as if somehow pointing out this fact would make it true

“Well, maybe she caught an earlier flight” Winn suggested

“How do you even know it’s her?” Alex demanded of me

“She can see _through_ the door, Alex” Winn reminded her

“And I know what your mother looks like” I reminded her as Winn went over and opened the door

“Hello, Eliza” he greeted as Eliza Danvers pulled him into a firm hug

“Hi, guys” Kara chirped from where she stood next to Eliza, Alex and I waved back

“Hello, Winn,” Eliza greeted him warmly as she pulled away “you look good”

“Hey, thanks,” Winn answered, opening the door wider and letting her in “oh, here,” he reached down and grabbed her luggage “I’ll get that”

“Are you sure it’s not too heavy for you?” Eliza asked, I could see by the strain in his shoulder and arm that it clearly was, but Winn just grinned at her

“I got it!” he said, quickly dropping the luggage on the couch

“I had a book there” I pointed out mildly

“Sorry man” Winn apologized, rubbing at his shoulder

“So,” I looked up to see Eliza Danvers staring at me “you must be Astra,” she said “Kara’s told me a lot about you”

“Has she?” I wondered “all good things I hope?” Eliza chuckled

“Yes,” she held out a hand towards me “it’s so wonderful to see that Kara still has family left” she said sincerely, warmly shaking my hand

“Thank you,” I replied, even as Alex glared at Kara “it’s…as you say…’wonderful’ to be here, with my niece” I told her

“God,” she exclaimed “I have so many questions!” I recognized that familiar gleam in her eyes; it was the same gleam Winn got in his eyes whenever he beat me at Halo (although I am pleased to admit that I frequently beat both him and Kara at Mario Kart)

“Questions?” I asked

“To actually meet another Kryptonian,” she exclaimed “I have to ask does your invulnerability naturally dull your sense of touch as a by product? And how do you see when you use your heat vision? And how do you compensate for the atmospheric differences between Earth and Krypton? And…what? What is so funny?” I shook my head, unable to stop laughing

“I think the expression is ‘like mother, like daughter’?” I explained once I stopped laughing in the poor woman’s face, Eliza chuckled somewhat awkwardly at herself

“Uh, Eliza,” Winn said suddenly “why don’t I help you get unpacked?”

“Oh, thank you Winn” she replied, gabbing one bag while Winn grabbed another and lead her in the direction of Alex’s guest bedroom, leaving Alex, Kara, and myself alone. Once we were alone, Alex rounded on Kara

“I can’t _believe_ you told her about Astra!” she hissed

“It’s not like I told her about Fort Rozz or Black Zero, or god forbid, Myriad,” Kara explained “all I said was that she was my aunt and after she found me she’s been staying with you”

“Yeah well, that’ll just make it harder when I tell her about us dating,” Alex hissed, she frowned “no, you know what, I’m not telling her! I’m taking that to my grave!” she pointed at me "and so are you!" she ordered

"I will not" I stated

“Alex, you can’t do that” Kara admonished

“Watch me!”

“Actually, I think you have other problems to worry about” I pointed out

“Like what?” Alex asked

“Like the fact that your mother and Winn appear awfully close”

“So? Winn’s a nice kid and he hasn’t had a mother in his life in years” Alex pointed out

“True,” I agreed “but isn’t a younger man dating an older woman becoming something of a fad?” I wondered

They both stared me with twin expressions of horror


	6. Loose Lips Sink Ships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza finds out something she probably didn't want to know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Chapter Six of What we are Part Five (YAY!!!), sorry it took me a while, but life's been crazy, I thank you all for your comments and hope that you keep it up for the rest of this fic as well as my other fics (I'm glad to see people commenting on Family Matters) and for you fans of Strange Visitor, don't worry the next chapter is in the works
> 
> But for now, onwards!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

I watched as both Kara and Alex continued to stare at me with nearly identical expressions of horror

“You’re supposed to laugh” I muttered as I retrieved my book from the couch, they both looked at each other, startled, before they sighed with obvious relief

“Are you _trying_ to kill me?!” Alex hissed, she seized a pillow off the couch and hit me over the head with it, which didn’t hurt me obviously, although it was startling (abusing me with pillows seems to becoming something of a habit for her)

“Aunt Astra why would you _say that?!_ ” Kara demanded, looking scandalized

"Because I thought that it would be funny?" I muttered, Alex shuddered

"Just the thought...ugh!" she grimiced

“Not that there’s anything _wrong_ with the idea of them dating…” Kara muttered

“Seriously?!” Alex demanded, she held up the pillow threateningly “you want the pillow too?”

“I’m just saying,” Kara objected “they’re both adults, and Eliza’s smart and so’s Winn”

“Yes, but I’m not into younger men” we all looked up to see Eliza and Winn standing there, Winn glared at me

“Dude, not cool!” he told me, he gestured to Eliza “come on, she’s old enough to be _my_ mother” he exclaimed, while Eliza looked mildly offended

“Yes,” I agreed “and I’m old enough to be Alex’s grandmother, but neither of us have let that fact stop us from having a relationsh—NO!” I covered my mouth in horror as I realized what I’d said, while Kara and Alex cringed

“Nice one, General” Alex muttered, while Winn let out a shocked

“Dude!”

“Aunt Astra!!” Kara exclaimed

 ** _“It was an accident!”_** I moaned, wanting nothing more than to just sink into the floor

"You're dating?!" Eliza demanded, Alex cringed, but nodded “is it serious?” Eliza finally asked, I watched as Alex nodded

“It is” she confirmed, Eliza nodded slowly

“Are you happy?” she asked, Alex looked vaguely surprised but nodded nonetheless

“Yes” she answered, Eliza nodded

“Well,” she began “I guess the only thing I can say is, welcome to the family Astra” she held out her hand, which I dimly shook, still not trusting myself to speak

“Wait,” Alex began, looking shocked “you’re not…mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” Eliza wondered “granted, your sister’s aunt wouldn’t have been my first choice, but you two are clearly happy with each other, so who am I to say different?”

“Uh…thanks?” Alex mumbled

“Besides,” Eliza added “it's no worse than Astra thinking that Winn and I are dating” I groaned and grabbed the pillow that Alex was still holding and buried my face in it.

Perhaps if I held it over my head long enough I might pass out from lack of oxygen and then be free of this nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, kind of short and I'm sorry if Eliza and Alex didn't the big blowout fight that people may have been hoping for, but I just couldn't see Eliza being that mean, nor could I actually come up with a counterpoint for Eliza to argue with


	7. Drive Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza invites everyone out to lunch. Getting there is half the fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everybody (this is where you all say 'Hello, Dr. Nick!'), welcome to the long awaited Chapter Seven of What we are Part Five, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update it, but life (and Strange Visitor) got in the way. Anyway, more GD and Danvers family fluff awaits you

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

"Will you _stop_ fidgeting?” Alex hissed

“I don’t like confined spaces,” I replied as I shifted my position for the fourth time “you know that” I reminded her

“Hey,” Winn suddenly grunted at me “your elbow’s in my ribs again,” he shoved me away as hard as he could given the confined space “move over, will ya?”

“If you don’t like small spaces, then remind me again why _you_ were the one who decided that we couldn’t take _both_ cars to lunch?” Alex grumbled as Winn’s shove forced me against her and thus forced her against the car door

“Because it’s ridiculous for the five of us to use two cars, and thus use more fuel than is strictly necessary, when one car seats five” I explained, Alex snorted

“That’s rich coming from the tallest woman here,” she retorted “look at you, you’re built like a giraffe. Half of your body is all leg” she complained, I couldn’t resist the opportunity

“You certainly weren’t complaining about the length of my legs last night” I told her

“Seriously?!” Winn demanded “I’m right here!”

“Everything OK back there?” Kara asked suddenly, stopping her rather animated conversation with Eliza

“We’re fine,” Alex answered “although we’d be better if you didn’t drive like somebody’s grandmother…” she muttered

“I heard that!”

“Kara’s doing just fine, Alexandra,” Eliza gently reprimanded “although this traffic…”

“Yeah, how long have we been stuck here again?” Alex wondered

“Three minutes,” I answered “the same as it was when you asked forty seconds ago”

“Ow!” Winn grunted “watch that elbow, will you? You could seriously hurt somebody with that thing”

“I’m sorry” I mumbled as I shifted my legs, this time hitting Alex in the shin with my foot

“OK, that’s it!” she suddenly shouted as she unhooked her seatbelt “Kara, switch places with me! I’m driving! You can sit back here with the giraffe and the whiner!”

“Hey!” Winn objected “you’re the one doing all the whining here,” he pointed out “I’m fine as long as Astra keeps her elbows to herself”

“Wait, wait!” Kara suddenly called our “the traffic’s moving” we were all silent as Kara maneuvered the car into a parking space outside of the restaurant

“Ten feet?!” Alex demanded “you mean to tell me that we were only _ten feet_ from the restaurant?! We could’ve just gotten out and walked!!”

“Well…yeah,” Winn agreed “but she couldn’t just park in the middle of street” he pointed out

 **“I am going to kill you,”** Alex stated emphatically, turning to glower at him past my head “I mean it; they won’t be enough left of you to fill a _Petri dish_ once I’m through!”

“ENOUGH!!” I finally shouted, I took a breath as I turned to face Alex “you have done nothing but _complain_ ever since your mother very graciously invited us all out to lunch, at her own expense I might add, the _very least_ you could do is _try_ to enjoy yourself, or, better yet, allow the rest of us to do so in peace and _quiet!_ ”

“Thank you, Astra,” Eliza said warmly; while Alex grumbled out an extremely insincere apology, I let it go, grateful to just get out of the small space. I had to restrain myself from literally tearing the door off its hinges as I scrambled out of the car “Astra, are you all right?” Eliza asked once we all outside “you’re trembling” she noted, clearly concerned

“I’m fine,” I replied shakily “I just…I don’t like confined spaces” I explained

“Claustrophobia” Eliza identified

“I suppose so” I agreed

“You didn’t tell me it was that bad” Alex said softly, looking contrite

“You didn’t bother to ask,” I replied “you were too focused on complaining about the situation” I reminded her, she reached out and gently squeezed my arm

“I’m sorry” she mumbled, I placed my hand over hers, squeezing back

“OK, seriously, how do you two do that?” Winn suddenly demanded “I’ve seen you two fight and then make up in, like, five seconds flat. What gives?”

“The knowledge that there are bigger, more important issues at hand, Winn,” I explained “once you realize that, a trivial argument becomes just that, trivial” Alex nodded

“Yep” she agreed

“Oh, gross, they’re doing the eye thing again” Kara muttered

“The ‘eye thing’?” Eliza asked

“Private joke, Mom” Alex explained, blushing

“ _How_ 'private'?” Eliza wondered

“Private” Alex stressed, I watched as Eliza blushed as she realized the implications of Alex’s statement

“I see” she muttered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who's taken a car trip (no matter how long or how far) with their relatives will know how Alex feels ;-)


	8. Pranks, Loss, Love, and Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang gets to lunch, Astra reveals a unexpected secret about Alura, and a secret about herself. Then, angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Chapter Eight of Part Five of What we are, hope everybody enjoys this considering recent events. Now, while you guys go read this, I will be happily sticking my head in a bucket of piranha fish, because I just saw the election results

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

Once we were all seated at a table Eliza told us to all feel free to order whatever we wanted, as it was her treat, before excusing herself to use the lavatory, Kara excused herself moments later to ‘check out the salad bar’, leaving myself, Alex, and Winn at the table

“I hate it when people invite me out to lunch” Winn grumbled, opening his menu

“Why?” I asked

“Yeah,” Alex added “what’s wrong with you? You don’t like free food?” she wondered

“It’s not that,” Winn explained “I just feel bad, because I don’t want to take advantage of the other person by ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, but at the same time—”

“…you don’t to insult them by order the least expensive item,” I finished; he nodded as he turned back to his menu, while I scowled at mine “is there nothing here that isn’t being drowned in cheese?” I wondered

“I thought you liked cheese” Alex wondered, I nodded

“I do, but I’d rather not eat an entire menu that is full of it”

“The grilled chicken doesn’t have cheese” Winn pointed out

“Hmm, it has green bell peppers,” Alex announced “she’s doesn’t like green bell peppers”

“No,” I corrected her “ _they_ , do not like me” she grinned at me somewhat shyly, while Winn looked between us suspiciously

“Do I…want to know?” he asked

“Let’s just say that the first time she had something with green bell peppers in it, the end result wasn’t pleasant for either of us” Alex explained

“I spent the rest of the night vomiting” I added bluntly

“Yeah, all over my couch” Alex muttered

“Oh come on!” Winn moaned “I just sat there today!”

“Oh relax, I had it professionally steam-cleaned,” Alex dismissed “it’s practically sterile now”

“Hey,” Kara suddenly arrived, bearing a plate with a virtual mountain of food on it. She sat down next to Alex and happily began eating “so, what are you guys talking about?” she asked around a mouthful of greenery

“They’re attempting to embarrass me” I explained

“Is it working?” Eliza wondered as she came over and sat down next Alex

“No” Alex grumbled with scowl, I smiled at her

“I had a twin sister,” I reminded her “one who—at times—made it her mission to terrorize me with various pranks”

“Whoa, wait a minute!” Kara stopped eating to stare at me “Aunt Astra, are you saying that _mom_ used to play pranks on you?”

“Not often,” I explained “but when she did, she was terrible” I said

“Like how?” Alex asked, clearly intrigued

“Well, once,” I began “when we were…about ten, I think, we were visiting the Lake Country, and she told me that she had read that one particular lake was poisonous, I told her that she was wrong, so she told me ‘find out’ and threw me into the lake”

“She threw you into the lake after telling you it was poisonous?” Kara repeated, clearly disbelieving “Alura Zor-El, _my mother_ , did that?” I nodded

“Were you all right?” Eliza asked

“Oh, I was fine,” I explained “the lake was not poisonous in the least, and it wasn’t even all that deep; I could easily walk back to shore, whereupon I promptly threw Alura into the lake”

“I bet,” Alex laughed “god, that reminds me of the time that Dad dunked me into the surf”

“I don’t remember that” Kara said, Alex shook her head

“It was a long time ago, long before you came to live with us,” she explained “anyway, I was about six, I think, and we were all at the beach, and Dad tells me to go for a swim in the surf, I tell him that I didn’t want to, so he picks me up, slings me over his shoulder, walks out into the surf, and drops me in the water”

“…and when you came up, you had seaweed in you hair” Eliza laughed

“I did?” Alex asked, Eliza nodded

“Yes, you ran back to shore screaming that a monster got you” I watched as Eliza’s face fell slightly at the thought of her late husband, her pleasant memories of him tainted by the knowledge that he was gone, never to return

“Mom, you OK?” Alex asked, clearly concerned

“I’m fine, honey,” Eliza dismissed, impulsively; I gently reached out and took her hand, offering what solace and understanding I could to someone I barely knew. Eliza frowned at me for moment before gently squeezing my hand “thank you” she said softly with a gentle nod. Anything more she was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of a waiter to take our orders  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“That was a nice thing you did for Mom today” Alex said suddenly, I looked up from my book

“Pardon?” I asked

“What you did for Mom today at the restaurant,” she explained as she turned off the light in the bathroom and swiftly got into bed next to me “you didn’t have to do that” she added as she punched her pillow into submission

“Maybe not,” I agreed “but I’ve known loss, Alex, I lost everything, I know how that kind of grief can fester inside you, twisting you, I know how easily it can consume you if you’re not careful,” I put down my book and turned to face her “that woman you met, on the floor of that dirtied warehouse, she was consumed by her grief, twisted by it, left as an empty shell” I explained

“Maybe,” Alex burrowed under the bedcovers closer to me, pillowing her head against my abdomen “but she got over it, she found her way out of the dark, she got her soul back”

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” I admitted, at Alex’s frown I elaborated “there are times, when I feel like…like I’m under the grip of a black mercy, that one day I’ll wake and find that this has all been a fantasy, that I’ll either be back to being your hated enemy, or worse, still caged in Fort Rozz, trapped in the timeless void of the Phantom Zone” I explained. For a long moment Alex simply stared at me, clearly shocked. Finally she smiled at me

“You know how I know you’re not under the influence of a black mercy?” she asked

“How?” 

“Because if you were, you wouldn’t have slipped in the shower this morning and put a dent in my bathroom wall with your head” she explained, I frowned as I pretended to think about that for a moment

“Hmm, I suppose you’re right” I grinned, she grinned back and then gently plucked the book from my hands, placing a bookmark inside before setting it aside and turning off the light. In the darkness I felt her press herself up against me

“C’mon,” she said softly “no more talking, sleep”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was a whimper that woke me.

I frowned as I lifted my head from the pillow, it wasn’t Alex, she was still happily asleep. Still frowning, I x-rayed through the wall, seeing Eliza curled up on the couch in the living room, a glass of what looked like alcohol in her hand, while holding what looked like a photograph in her other. Gently getting up, so as not to disturb Alex, I quietly slipped out of bed, using my flight to gently float across the floor.

Entering the living room, I found Eliza still curled up on the couch, knees drawn up to her chest

“Eliza?” I asked quietly, she jumped when she saw me standing there

“Oh,” she breathed “I’m sorry, you scared me” 

“I didn’t mean to,” I gingerly sat down on the armrest of the couch “are you all right?” I asked

“Yes, I’m fine,” she lied “I’m sorry if my wandering woke you up”

“It wasn’t your ‘wandering’ that woke me,” I pointed out, I nodded to the photograph, one I’d seen at Kara’s apartment as well, the four members of Danvers family all gathered around, smiling for the camera, the girls were young, Kara not much older than she was when I’d last seen her on Krypton “it’s a nice picture,” I began “you look happy”

“We were” Eliza answered softly, her voice pained

“You miss him” she nodded

“Were you…?” she trailed off “I mean, before you met Alex…”

“I was married, yes,” I answered “but it wasn’t that kind of marriage,” I explained “ours was more for convenience than anything else, although he loved me, I held no love for him, save for a childhood affection. In true I feel my sister’s loss more deeply than my husband’s, even though at the end, we were not…close anymore”

“What happened?” Eliza asked, I sighed

“Do you really want to know?” I asked, she nodded “very well…” and I told her about how Alura and I had grown further apart as the years went by, about how desperation drove me to form Black Zero and create Myriad, I told her about how Alura sentenced me—her own sister—to Fort Rozz, I told her about how I tired to recreate Myriad here on Earth, even going so far as brawl with Kara high above the city and allow myself to be captured by the DEO and tortured by General Lane, I told her about how convinced I was of my own beliefs until Non sent the black mercy after Kara, I told her that was when I realized that I had fallen in love with Alex, I told her about how Non abducted Alex and how I had killed him without hardly a second thought to save Alex, I told her about my joining the DEO partly just to be with Alex, I told her Indigo, and Draper, the surviving guard from Fort Rozz. 

When I was finally done, Eliza was staring at me with wide eyes

“Is…is it true?” she finally asked, I nodded

“What’s true is that your daughter saved me,” I explained “without her I would probably either be in a cell again or dead by now, because that woman, the one who fought Kara across the city’s skyline? She’s a stranger to me now” Eliza stared at me for a long moment before speaking

“I don’t…I don’t claim to know you all that well,” she began “but even I can see, that whoever you were then, is gone, that you’ve changed” I nodded

“I have” I agreed, I frowned at the sudden woosh from outside. Eliza and I both looked up to see a familiar streak of red and blue fly past the windows at high speed, fast enough to rattle the panes

“Someone’s in a hurry” Eliza commented

“Yes,” I agreed, I titled my head, tuning out the sounds of the city and focusing in on Kara, hearing a crash, a growl, and Kara’s pained scream “no!” I bolted up from the couch. Eliza frowned at me, then nodded

“Go,” she said “I’ll tell Alex, go”

“Tell her to have a strike team met me at the National City branch of S.T.A.R. Labs” I explained hurriedly, then I threw the window open and took off


	9. Parasite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra and Kara confront a new enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fishies weren't biting, so here's a double update

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

Arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs reminded me far too much of many of the battlefields I’d seen in the Military Guild, a massive fire had broken out in one part of the complex and smaller explosions were still wracking the building. Emergency services were already there, and as I soared above them, largely unnoticed, I focused my hearing on the crowd below

_“Where’s Supergirl?”_ someone asked

_“She’s in there! She got most of us out, but…there’s some_ thing _in there with her”_ someone else replied franticly, hearing enough I swooped down, crashing through the already-weakened roof, and using my hearing to find Kara’s location.

When I found her, I saw something that would fuel my nightmares for ages to come.

Some thing was looming over Kara, who lay on the floor, unconscious, looking pale as she twitched and writhed on the floor, clearing in pain. The creature that stood over her was humanoid, but it’s skin was a vibrant purple, it’s arms were elongated, reaching down past it’s knees and looked more like tentacles than true arms, long and whip-like with long claw-like fingers on it’s hands. It turned to look at me, a pair of iridescent gold eyes staring at me almost…hungrily

**_“More…”_** it rasped out upon seeing me **_“need it, give it, give it to me, give me more!”_** the creature lunged for me and I dodged, swiftly landing a hard punch to it’s side, only to recoil back at the pain that suddenly shot up my arm. With a laugh the creature twisted, gripping my arm with one hand **_“got you!”_** the creature declared triumphantly, its grip tightening **_"give it to me!!"_** I collapsed to my knees, gasping at the icy burn that suddenly radiated out from my arm. It was like my very blood was freezing solid in my veins, worse than the liquid kryptonite that General Lane used on me, that had been like ice was my veins as well, but this was different, more encompassing, this was like the very life was being pulled out of me, being drained by the creature holding me.

I glanced over at Kara, who had finally stopped twitching. Panic suddenly seized me, and I gathered my strength, despite the aching burning my chest, and drew back my free arm and punched the creature squarely across the jaw. It shrieked in pain and released me, stumbling back, before turning and fleeing, disappearing into the depths of the building with a great leap.

Choking and gasping for air, I somehow managed to get to my feet and stumble over to Kara. Despite my weakened state, I managed to lift her into my arms, cradling her still-limp form, I stood, hoping that I could still fly

“POLICE!! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!” I turned to see several members of the NCPD standing behind me, guns drawn

“Put Supergirl down and get down on your knees, hands on top of your head” one officer ordered, I recognized her and turned around fully to face her and shook my head, she reared back slightly upon seeing me

“Not this time, Maggie” I told her, then sending a silent prayer to Rao, I bent my knees and took off, crashing through the roof and heading for the DEO.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

My arrival at the DEO was far from dignified, I somehow managed to stay aloft all the way until I reached Command, but then I unceremoniously dropped to the ground, tumbling on the floor in a sprawl

“MEDICS! ON THE DOUBLE!!” J’onn ordered, rushing over to us. I weakly managed to sit up, feeling my strength slowly returning as I did

“I’m all right,” I dismissed “tend to Kara” I ordered, J’onn nodded

“Get Supergirl to the infirmary now!!” he ordered as he helped me stand. A team of medics swiftly surrounded Kara, placing her on a stretcher and carrying her to the infirmary "what happened?" he asked, but before I could answer I heard a familiar shout

“Astra!” I turned to see Alex jogging towards me, her hair was tousled, her clothing mismatched and rumpled, and I wondered if she knew she had only one sock on. But nerveless I let her embrace me “what the hell happened?” she demanded, pulling away from the embrace

“Explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs,” J’onn explained “Supergirl went to help put out the fire”

“Yeah, Mom told me you wanted her to tell me to have a strike team ready at S.T.A.R. Labs” Alex explained

“We were just about to leave when you showed up” J’onn said, and looking at him I suddenly noticed the full tactic gear he was wearing

“Something attacked Kara,” I explained “it attacked me when I intervened”

“Alien?” Alex asked, her grip on my waist tightening protectively “something that Faora sent after you?” I shook my head

“No. The…creature that attacked us, it, I don’t know, it…acted very... _human_ , despite its appearance” I shook out my still-numb arm, only for Alex to suddenly grab my elbow

“Your arm” she exclaimed

“I’m fine,” I dismissed “I’ve had—”

“...far worse, blah-blah, bullshit,” Alex snarled, she turned my wrist gently “look at this” the skin where the creature had grabbed me was...blistered, a large angry burn mark curled around my wrist in the form of a distinct handprint

“Get down to the lab,” J’onn ordered “see if you can find some DNA left behind, maybe we can find out what this creature is,” Alex and I nodded "oh, and Astra?" he called out as we turned to leave

"Yes?" I asked

"You might think about putting some pants on" he grumbled, I blinked and looked down, realizing that I was still clad in a long t-shirt, the long hem which brushed the tops of my knees being the only thing that was preserving my modesty. Alex followed my gaze and then blushed

"C'mon," she tugged at my arm "I got some sweat pants in my locker" she said as she led me to the locker room

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“This almost looks like…sunburn,” Alex muttered as she peered through a magnifying glass at my arm, she lightly poked the skin with one gloved finger “that hurt?” she asked

“No” she picked up an empty syringe and silently held it up in question, I nodded and she gently pressed the needle to my arm, I winced as the needle slid into my skin with only some difficulty

“Sorry,” she whispered, clearly in pain herself at the thought of hurting me. She withdrew the needle and placed it at a patch of skin above the handprint, this time the needle simply broke off once she tried to get it into my skin “huh,” she muttered, that familiar scientific gleam in her eyes “it’s like this thing…drained your powers slightly” she explained

“It felt more like the life was being drained out of me,” I muttered as she let go of my arm, I glanced over at the sunbed where Kara still lay unconscious “how is she?”

“She’s still unconscious,” Alex answered “and she has the same kind of burn mark on her arm too,” she frowned “I wonder…,” she picked up a sterile syringe and swiftly pressed the needle against Kara’s arm, the needle easily sliding in. With a startled gasp, Kara suddenly jerked awake, startling both Alex and myself “hey, easy,” Alex soothed, she withdrew the needle, grabbing a bandage as she did, and quickly applying it to Kara’s arm “how are you feeling?” she asked as I came over to Kara’s side

“Tired…,” Kara answered weakly “wha, what happened?”

“There was an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs,” I explained “you went to help and something attacked you” I explained, Kara frowned and slowly nodded

“Yeah, but…Aunt Astra how did you get there?” she asked

“I saw you fly by the apartment,” I explained “I heard what happened and went to help” I glanced over at Alex wondering if I should tell Kara about the creature attacking me, she shrugged in response

“Hey,” Alex gently touched Kara’s shoulder “I’ve got some reports to deliver,” she explained “so I’ll leave you two alone for a bit” she looked up at me, the worry and fear clear in her eyes, before she visibly tore herself away from Kara’s side and left the room. I turned to Kara once we were alone

“Are you all right?” I asked, she nodded, then her eyes widened

“Your arm!” she tried to sit up, but I put a hand on her shoulder

“Easy, little one, I’m fine,” I told her “I managed to fend off the creature before it could seriously injure me,” I explained, Kara looked doubtful but relaxed, she chuckled suddenly “what’s so funny?” I asked

“It’s...nothing, just…I like your t-shirt,” she explained, still chuckling, she pointed to the shirt “’Aunt, like a mom, only cooler’” she read, I looked down at the shirt

“Oh, Alex got it for me,” I explained “she bought many of them actually, all with humorous expressions on them”

“Like what?” Kara asked, she was clearly trying to distract herself from the fact that both of us nearly died today and I was more than happy to indulge her

“Uh, well there’s a green one that reads ‘I’m greener than this t-shirt’, another one that says ‘cleverly disguised as an adult’, and another that says ‘one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor’” I recited, Kara bust out laughing

“You actually _wear_ them?” she asked in disbelief “outside? In public?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, confused “they’re comfortable, and I like them” I explained, Kara shrugged

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t be _too_ surprised,” she said “after all, you _were_ wearing _Mary Janes_ to lunch today” I snorted

“As if _your_ civilian clothing is any better?” I wondered “you have three sweaters, all of which are varying shades of _brown_ ” I pointed out, she pouted playfully at me

“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?” we both looked up as Agent Vasquez hovered in the door uncertainly

“No, please come in” I told her, she walked in and held out a tablet PC towards me

“Thought you should this, ma’am” she said, a news report was playing on the screen

_“In related news, the NCPD just released the body cam footage of what is now being called an attack on S.T.A.R. Labs,”_ the report began _“and while the footage does not show the attacker, it does show Supergirl’s mysterious ally, once again lending a helping hand to the Girl of Steel,”_ a clip of myself holding Kara appeared on the screen _“this latest rescue is first time that National City’s newest—and most mysterious hero—has been seen directly with Supergirl, and has people asking: is there a ‘Super_ woman’ _in our midst?”_ I scowled and handed the tablet back to Susan

“Oh come on!” Kara pouted “that’s not fair, why do you get to be ‘superwoman’?”

“I think it’s because she’s scarier-looking than you,” Susan said "nobody wants to call someone who looks like her a 'girl'" she explained

“Hey, maybe Winn can make your own costume, you know, like…” Kara began, I held up a hand

“Stop, I have no desire to put on a red cape and fly around the city with the Crest of El displayed my chest for all to see” I explained

“Good,” I looked as J’onn walked in “for the moment National City has enough superheroes,” he explained “that being said, two Kryptonians on our side is better than one, especially since we still don’t know what we’re up against”

“I can help with that,” Alex walked in holding up a sheaf of paper “the lab reports just came back, whatever attacked you both was human”

“Wait a minute,” Kara sat up “that _thing_ was _human_?” she asked incredulously, Alex nodded

“Heavily mutated, but still human,” she held up one of the sheets of paper “we also found a fingerprint match from a print he left behind on Kara’s suit,” she explained holding out the paper to the rest of us which showed an image of a rather unremarkable human man “meet ‘Rudy Jones’, a.k.a. ‘Raymond Maxwell Jensen’, a.k.a. ‘ _Doctor_ Torval Freeman’” Alex explained

“Who is he?” Kara asked

“Nobody,” Alex answered “National Crime database has dozens of arrests for him under a dozen more aliases; apparently he was just some small-time thug and con man,” she pulled out another piece of paper “it says here he was last employed at the Pittsburgh branch of S.T.A.R. Labs about two days ago,” she read “but he was caught to attempting to steal sensitive documents, security chased him, and he was caught in a particle accelerator, killed instantly”

“Obviously not” I muttered as I rubbed at my still tingling arm

“Well, the lab’s still working on that,” Alex explained “but just after Rudy Jones was declared dead, there was a upswing in deaths among Pittsburgh’s homeless population, all the victims looked like this,” she held up a photograph, the victim was unidentifiable as either male or female, looking as if they had been latterly drained, leaving behind a withered, almost skeletal, husk

“All right,” J’onn declared “now we know who were up against, the next question is how do we stop him?”

“I don’t know,” Alex admitted “I mean not even Kara and Astra can get close enough to touch him without nearly dying themselves, let alone stop him”

“And there’s still Faora to worry about” Kara muttered, Alex groaned

“Right, I’d forgotten about her” she muttered

“We still don’t know why she was imprisoned in Fort Rozz” J’onn complained

“Did you ask Alura’s hologram?” I asked, Alex nodded

“First thing, it didn’t know why she was imprisoned” she explained

“If we could figure out what she was charged with, we might be able to figure out her next move” J’onn pointed out

“Actually…,” I began “I might know where we can find out,” I glanced at Alex “dress warmly,” I instructed “it’s cold up there”


	10. Playing Dress Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra and Alex get Kara home and then make plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Chapter Ten of Part Five of What we are!! Hope everybody enjoys this one, because I'm avoiding radio and TV for awhile. Also I noticed that no one commented on Chapters Eight and Nine, oh well, doesn't really matter as long you folks read it.
> 
> And now for the fic :-)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“All right, easy does it” between the two of us, Alex and I gently eased Kara into Alex’s apartment door

“Guys, I _can_ walk!” Kara insisted “I just can’t use any of my powers” she grumbled

“Humor us!” Alex snapped “and you,” she scowled at me past Kara’s nose “I’m bearing most of the weight here, use that strength of yours”

“Are you calling me fat?!” Kara demanded

“No” Alex rolled her eyes

“Here, we’ll take her” Eliza and Winn swiftly took our places and guided Kara to the couch

“Here you go, sweetie” Eliza quickly draped the throw that normally sits atop the couch over Kara’s shoulders while Winn helped Kara get her boots off

“So, I’m confused.” Winn began “Astra, you said on the phone that her powers are…gone?”

“Not gone,” Alex explained “at least we hope not, but drained, we think that whatever happened to this ‘Rudy Jones’ allows him to literally drain energy out of living beings”

“It was almost like he was feeding off us,” I added “when he attacked me he said ‘need it’, ‘give it to me’”

“Like some kind of…parasite,” Eliza reasoned, she looked between us worried “can you stop him?”

“We’ll try,” Alex vowed “problem is we don’t know how he’s able to…feed”

“Actually, I have an idea,” Kara began “Winn,” he looked up “I want to go to the DEO, tell the Director and Agent Vasquez that I sent you and that I want you to pull Astra’s kryptonite inhibitor out of storage, OK? Tell them that I want you try and find a way to see if you can use it to block Jones’ feeding ability, maybe even build it our clothes”

“Wait,” Winn said “I get to design Superwoman’s suit?” he asked with a grin

“No pressure” Alex laughed, I groaned

“Just…go” I said, Winn nodded and quickly turned to leave

“Do you think he can do it?” Alex asked, once the door shut behind Winn

“He can” Kara insisted

“At very least he’ll try his hardest,” I added, I glanced over at Kara, whose color seemed to be coming back “will you be all right while we’re gone?” I asked, she nodded

“Of course, I’ve got the best foster mom in the galaxy taking care of me!” she grinned, while Eliza laughed. I found myself smiling at Eliza

“Yes, you do” I agreed softly, Eliza glanced at me and nodded in silent thanks, to her hearing that level of praise from one of Kara’s blood relatives was no doubt of the highest order  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“What’d you mean by ‘dress warmly’?” I heard Alex demand “how ‘warmly’?”

“Very warm” I answered as I climbed out of the shower

“OK, so like a parka?”

“A what?” I asked as I toweled my hair dry. Alex leaned into the room, holding out a large insulated jacket with a fur-lined collar

“This” she said simply, I nodded

“That would be appropriate” she rolled her eyes

“I’m _so_ glad that it meets your approval, Your Majesty,” she grumbled as she went back into the bedroom, while I followed her “where the hell are we going anyway?”

“Kal-El’s Fortress” I answered, she stopped and slowly turned to face me

“O…K,” she said slowly “and how do we get in there without the Man of Steel knocking you three ways to Sunday?” I grinned at her

“That is for me to know and for you to find out” I answered, she rolled her eyes again and went back to dressing, wrapping a scarf around her neck

“OK, how’s this?” she asked, turning back around to face me “good enough for—oh,” she blinked at me in surprise as I straightened my old uniform “haven’t seen that in awhile,” she commented “I didn’t even know you still had it”

“Of course I did” I answered

“I was never quite clear,” she began “that’s your _military_ uniform right? Not a prison uniform” I nodded

“Yes, what in your military is known as ‘fatigues’ or ‘BDUs’,” I explained “although Winn keeps calling it the ‘catsuit’ or my ‘Emma Peel look’,” I added, I frowned at her own attire, the heavy ‘parka’, a pair of matching paints, and her standard DEO-issue combat boots, I went over to the closet and pulled out a stocking cap, and placed it on her head “there” I declared, she scowled

“I feel like Randy in _'A Christmas Story'_ ” she complained, I grinned

“Perhaps, but I highly doubt that you, of all people, will shoot your eye out” she grinned

“Hey, how’d—wait don’t tell me, Kara”

“Winn, actually,” she nodded as I held out my arm “shall we?” grinning, she looped her arm through mine

“We shall” she replied as we made our way to the living room (the bedroom window wasn’t large enough for either of us to fit through)

“Hey, look at you two, all dressed up,” Kara grinned, she was already looking better, but still looked weak as she slowly got to her feet and grinned at Alex “you look warm” she commented

“I’m roasting” Alex complained, Kara grinned teasingly at her and gave her a pat on the head

“Don’t forget your lunch, be nice to the other kids, and remember to listen to whatever Ms. In-ze tells you” she teased, while I tried my hardest not to laugh at Alex’s downright murderous expression

“Gee, _thanks, Mom_ , I will” she drawled as Eliza came over and pulled her into a firm hug

“Be careful, sweetie” she said, she turned to me as she reluctantly pulled away from Alex. I nodded in answer to her silent question

“We’ll be back soon” Alex promised as we made our way to the window

“Ready?” I asked as I opened the window, she nodded, I glanced back at Eliza and Kara “we’ll see you soon, Doctor” I said, then I wrapped my arm around Alex’s waist and took off


	11. Solitudes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra and Alex enter the Fortress and Alex's learns a little more about Astra's past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, double update! Cool!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spilt milk tears, I did this for you  
Spilling over the idol, the black and the blue  
The sweetest submission, drinking you in  
The wine, the women, the bedroom hymns

\--Florence + the Machine: "Bedroom Hymns"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“Oh my god, its freezing!” Alex exclaimed as we landed on the edge of a frozen mountainside in the Arctic Circle, she rubbed her gloved hands together and then wrapped her arms around herself and took a breath “so, this is it, huh?” she asked, glancing at the recessed sheet of ice marked with a mirror image of the Crest of El carved into its surface. I nodded

“This is it” I confirmed

“OK, now what? How do we get in?” she asked as I crouched and began to dig through the snow and ice “that’s it?” Alex laughed as a large gold key emerged “he just…keeps the key under the mat?”

“Well,” I began as I hefted the key (which was about as long as my arm and twice as wide) “from what Kal-El told me this is made from compressed dwarf star alloy, very few people can lift it,” I tucked the key under my arm and pressed the end shaped like the Crest of El into its mirror image carved into the cliff face. There was a hum and a large portion of the wall slid aside, revealing a massive cavern carved out into the mountain. Dominating it all was a massive sculpture of Jor-El and Lara Jor-El holding up a globe of Krypton.

I glanced back at Alex, who stared at the scope of the cavern openmouthed “welcome to the Fortress of Solitude” I said

“This is incredible,” Alex exclaimed, she slowly turned in a circle, trying to see everything at once “how do you know about this place anyway?” she asked as we weaved our way into the inner part of the Fortress

“After Fort Rozz crashed, the military almost-immediately mobilized to combat what they saw simply as ‘invaders’,” I began “and in those early hours, many of the Kryptonian inmates had yet develop their powers” Alex nodded

“Yeah, Kara’s powers fluxed wildly during her first month or so with us”

“Anyway,” I continued “Superman had been called into help and tried to keep the death toll to a minimum. In this…mêlée, he encountered me, I’d been shot in the shoulder, I don’t know by whom exactly, but Kal-El apparently recognized my Crest,” I tapped the small patch over my right breast “and seeing that I was injured, he took me away from the field, when I woke up, I was here. Kal-El explained who he was and how he knew me, apparently the records Jor-El left him speak very highly of me”

“He tried to convince you not to fight,” Alex reasoned “to make a fresh start” I nodded

“He told me that Krypton was gone and whatever I had been imprisoned for was meaningless”

“But you rejected his offer” Alex nodded

“I did, and told him not to meddle in my affairs; in response he told me about a little girl who fell from the stars wearing the Crest of El”

“Kara,” Alex realized “that’s how you knew she was still alive” I nodded

“Kal-El offered to reunite me with her, but I was so... _consumed_ by my grief and rage for Alura and haunted by the horrors of For Rozz, that I rejected him utterly”

“So, I’m confused,” Alex began “if he knew what a threat you could pose, why did he just…let you go? I mean he probably could’ve just kept you prisoner here,” she glanced around the seeming-endless labyrinth of the Fortress “there’s probably a dungeon in here somewhere” she muttered

“I asked him that myself,” I explained “he told me that he could tell just by talking to me that I wasn’t a threat that I could ‘be more’ than just a criminal, and that, eventually, I would realize that myself”

“He was right,” Alex said

“He was,” I agreed “it only took twenty-four years for me to realize that myself”

“Oh, yeah, no time at all,” she joked, she glanced around the Fortress “god, this place is like some kind of alien museum” she exclaimed, I nodded as I glanced around at the artifacts scattered around the room, most of which I recognized, and few I didn’t

“I can’t believe he never invited Kara here” I wondered

“Well, according to her, he did,” Alex explained “but, apparently, she always turned him down. I guess she thought it’d remind her too much of Krypton” I scoffed

“Hardly, this place, impressive though it may be, is nothing like Krypton”

“Yeah, I know, I saw into Kara’s memories of it once, remember?” I chuckled

“I remember, but this place,” I shook my head “this place is nothing more than a monument to a dead world, this is a mausoleum. A tomb to fallen kings and queens long dead”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed quietly “it is, isn’t?” she looked around “so…how does this stuff work, exactly?” she wondered

“I’m not sure,” I admitted as I frowned at what I hoped was a control interface “Jor-El was…’eccentric’,” I explained diplomatically, cautiously tapping the screen “he was one of our world’s great minds, but he was also borderline paranoid, convinced that other people were going to steal his ideas” there was a quiet hum and a small metallic shape suddenly emerged from the depths of the Fortress

_“Greetings, General In-ze. How may I assist you?”_

“Whoa,” Alex jumped “uh, you know…him?” she asked as she stared at the robot floating in front of us

“We had them back on Krypton,” I explained “they served as…robotic helpers,” I turned back to the simulacrum “identify yourself” I ordered

 _“I am Kelex, primary assistant to Lord Kal-El, I am programed to ensure the safety of the noble and honorable House of El,”_ it answered _“how may I assist you, General?”_

“What can you tell me about Faora-Ur?” I asked, Kelex frantically waved its hands

_“Warning, that information is restricted. This construct is not authorized to discuss Faora-Ur”_

“You got to be kidding me!!” Alex exclaimed, she scowled and marched up the robot “you were designed and programmed to safeguard the ‘noble and honorable House of El,’ and to preserve its memory wherever it went, right?” she asked

 _“That is correct”_ Kelex answered

“Well, Faora-Ur is here, on Earth," Alex explained "if you do not override your programming, she will _destroy_ the House of El, and with it, the memory of Krypton. You will have _failed_ in your prime directive!” she snarled

_“This construct is not authorized—”_

“This is General Astra In-ze, Second Daughter of the House of In-ze, Lord Markswoman of the Elite Brigadiers, now you will recognize her authority and obey any command or order she gives you!!” Alex bellowed, Kelex twitched

 _“Compliance”_ it stated simply before turning and disappearing back into the depths of the Fortress

“Impressive speech” I commented, Alex scowled

“I’m cold and I’m pissed,” she explained “in that order” she added. She nodded in the direction that Kelex had disappeared “is that it?” she asked, I shrugged

“I don’t know,” I admitted “artificial intelligence is always a tad…fickle” I explained, there was quiet chime and a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of us

 _“Hello, Astra”_ the hologram greeted

“Alura” I whispered, the hologram looked like the one at the DEO, but seeing it here, in this place that was similar, but not exactly like, Krypton was somehow more…poignant

“Hey” Alex said softly, breaking me out of my thoughts. I turned to the hologram

“Why was Faora-Ur imprisoned in Fort Rozz?” I asked

 _“Faora-Ur was one of Krypton’s leading scientists,”_ the hologram began _“but in time, like Jor-El, she came to believe that Krypton’s future was in peril, and began to implement a desperate plan to save our world. To that end, she bombed the Kandor Genesis Chamber, killing over one hundred individuals”_ I felt my stomach twist at the words

“’Genesis Chamber’?” Alex asked “isn’t that…?”

“Where new children were produced after we began artificial population growth” I nodded

“Great, so, she’s a child-killer” Alex muttered

“Why would she destroy a Genesis Chamber?” I asked

 _“Faora’s goal was the reduction of our planet’s population, to save the Krypton by retuning our society to an agrarian culture. To do so, she believe that Krypton’s populace must no longer be bound by the Codex and be allowed to reproduce naturally”_ the hologram explained

“That still doesn’t explain why Kelex wouldn’t talk about it” Alex pointed out

 _“It was feared that if knowledge of Faora’s actions were to get out, the people would lose faith in the Codex and would demand that natural births be allowed once more,”_ the hologram answered _“as such, all information related to the incident was purged from High Council records”_

“Wait,” Alex said “why would you cover up information about a child-killer? For that matter why would allowing people to have kids naturally be a bad thing?” she wondered

“In our society, leaving the conception of one’s children to the whims of nature was seen as heresy,” I explained “it was, ironically, looked upon as unnatural”

“Because it would mean that you all weren’t as ‘perfect’ as you thought you were,” Alex nodded “because you couldn’t be certain of your children’s success in life” I nodded

“Very good,” I turned back to the hologram “thank you,” I said, it nodded, the movement, fluid, life-like, but not real “I miss you,” I said softly “everyday” the hologram nodded once more and then quietly vanished

“You want to run this by J’onn or should I?” Alex asked, I sighed

“I don’t know, I don't have all the answers, Alex” I groaned

“Hey,” Alex reached out and firmly gripped me by the shoulders "you’re overwhelmed, I get it, between Faora and this parasite running around, and Alura just now, I would be too, but,” she tightened her grip on my shoulders “you don’t have to do it alone” she reminded me, I smiled at her, once more amazed and awed by her integrity and courage

“I’m not alone,” I said softly “how could I be when I’m with you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look, I'm using Florence + the Machine lyrics again!
> 
> Ooops, forgot to mention, Astra's title is take, in part, from Between the Lines by Anonymisssippi (BEST General Danvers fic EVER!!), if the author objects to my using the title, please drop me a line in the comments section and I will be glad to change it, thanks


	12. Lights and Love Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra gives Alex a surprise on the way back from the Fortress, Eliza surprises Astra, and then the next morning Alex and Astra have a decision to make

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

Alex slept most of the way back to National City, and I was content to let her sleep, but as we crossed over Alaska, I stopped mid-flight and gently woke her

“What is it? Something wrong?” she asked as she rubbed at her eyes, I shook my head

“Nothing’s wrong,” I answered “I just wanted you to see this,” I explained “look” she turned her head, and I smiled at the awestruck expression on her face as the aurora borealis shimmered and danced around us, a vibrant display of greens, golds, yellows, blues, and purples

“Its beautiful.” Alex whispered “I’ve seen pictures of it before, but…I don’t think anyone’s seen it like this”

“I doubt it,” I agreed “we had something similar on Krypton, we called it ‘Rao’s Fire’ or ‘Rao’s Flame’,” I explained “it was caused by similar effects in our atmosphere just as these are, but…it was never quite this beautiful,” I glanced at Alex “when I left the Fortress the first time, after Kal-El rescued me, I flew across this part of the world and I saw this, it was glorious, so vibrant that I wept. Seeing these lights are what made me want to save this world from ecological destruction”

“I can see how,” Alex agreed quietly, she leaned her head against my shoulder “thank you” she whispered softly, I placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head

“You’re welcome, love” I whispered  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You’re late,” Eliza said as Alex and I awkwardly climbed through the window “I was starting to get worried” she said

“We took a detour” I said, Alex laughed as she shrugged off the heavy parka

“She took me to see the Northern Lights” she explained, her eyes bright and excited

“The Northern Lights?” Eliza echoed, she turned to stare me, something like surprise and pain on her face 

“Yeah,” Alex confirmed as she moved towards the bedroom “where’s Kara?”

“Oh, she’s asleep in the guest bedroom” Eliza explained, Alex nodded

“OK, I’m going to take a hot shower, because I am still freezing!” she threw the heavy boots off and shut the bedroom door, leaving a trail of clothing stretching from the bedroom door to the window in her wake. I sighed

“Do you want to pick this up or should I?” I asked, Eliza scoffed

“I stopped picking up after her after Kara came” she chuckled, I nodded

“Then why don’t we leave it for her to pick up?” I suggested, she nodded

“I was just about to make some hot tea,” she said as she moved towards the kitchen counter “would you like some?”

“Please,” I followed her, peering inside the refrigerator to see if anything looked appealing, nothing did, so I shut the door “Eliza,” I began “did I…offend you?” I asked, she turned to face me, startled

“No, of course not”

“Then why did you look hurt when Alex mentioned that I took her to see the aurora borealis?” I asked, Eliza sighed and sat down at the kitchen island, beckoning me to join her

“Did Alex ever tell you about her father?” she asked, I nodded as I sat down opposite her

“Yes, she’s told me much about him” I answered

“Did she ever tell you how he and I met?” I shook my head

“No, at least not that I can recall” I answered

“We met at collage,” she began “I was walking back from class one night, it was freezing cold and I remember that the weather report was actually predicting early morning frost, and as I walked past the astronomy labs, I see this figure sitting there with a telescope”

“Jeremiah” I reasoned, she nodded

“He was just sitting there, staring through that telescope, completely oblivious to the cold,” she continued “so I yelled at him ‘what are you doing, you’ll freeze?’ he turns to face me, grins, and says ‘nah, I’ll be fine, aurora will keep me warm’, well now I’m thinking that he must be absolutely nuts and so I ask ‘who’s Aurora?’, he turns and points up at the sky at this tiny shimmer of light ‘not who’ he says ‘what, aurora, from the Latin for light’ he explained, he then invited me to join him”

“Did you?” I asked, finding myself enraptured by the story, she nodded

“We sat there for at least an hour, staring through that telescope,” she explained “he told me that his one dream was to fly up north to see the Northern Lights in person, but, he never got around to it, first we ad Alex, who was a surprise, one we loved, but still a surprise, then Kara came, and then…” she trailed off, not needing to finish

“When Alex mentioned that I’d taken her to see the aurora, it reminded you of Jeremiah” I reasoned, she nodded

“But it wasn’t just that,” she said “what stuck me was that, you’re actually a lot like him”

“I am?” I echoed, Eliza nodded

“Yes,” she insisted “let me guess, you took Alex to see the lights on a whim, right? You just suddenly saw them and thought that she’d like to see them,” at my nod, Eliza smiled “Jeremiah would’ve done the exact same thing for me” I stared at her, moved beyond words, that she would think so highly of me was….inconceivable and I struggled to find the words, in either English or even Kryptonese, to express my gratitude

“Whistling” I finally said, Eliza frowned

“What?”

“Something’s whistling” I said, she blinked

“Oh, the kettle” as she poured two steaming cups of sweet-smelling tea I frowned on her words

“So,” I began “I take it from your statement that you approve of my dating your daughter?” she chuckled

“Yes, very much so”

“Even after learning that I’m an ex-convict who had plotted to take over the city?” 

“Even after learning that,” she confirmed with a chuckle, she reached out and gently grasped my hand “you see, most of Alex’s past relationships were, well, they weren’t serious, I always got the impression that most of her exs, both the boys and the girls, were either waiting for someone ‘better’ to come along, or that they were in it just for sex”

“Charming” I drawled

“But I don’t see that with you, Astra,” she said “as I said before, I don’t claim to know you all that well, but whoever you were then you’ve changed and I suspect that Alex was largely responsible for that”

“She was,” I answered “before I met her, I was just…a shell, a ghost of a person, I had lost touch with my, if you’ll excuse me, ‘humanity’ as it were, driving myself towards self-destruction, and then I saw Alex, injured but so defiant, so brave, I knew then that she was something special”

“She is” Eliza agreed softly  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“OH GOD, I’M LATE!!!” I jerked up at the shout, frantically looking up to see a multi-colored blur suddenly shoot into my bedroom and head straight for the bathroom. Beside me, Astra groaned

“I think Kara’s late” she muttered, burying herself under the covers

“Looks like,” I agreed, I sighed “it’s Monday, isn’t?” I groaned

“It’s Monday” Astra said, her voice muffled by the pillow over her head

“I don’t want to get up” I groaned

“Agreed, why don’t we simply stay here in bed?”

“OK” I laid back down “that’s good idea”

“Of course,” Astra sighed as she lifted the pillow up “there is the matter of the parasite” I sighed

“True, and there’s also Faora to deal with too” I agreed

“And Winn called me and said that he was having trouble adapting the kryptonite inhibitor to work against the parasite’s attacks” she pointed out, I sighed and threw back the covers

“Let's get up” I grumbled  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After Kara shot out of the door at superspeed, Astra and I each grabbed a shower ourselves. I was in the kitchen, munching on some toast when I heard Mom call out to me

“Alex, could you come in here, please?” I knew what this was about, but I got up anyway and walked into my bedroom, finding my Mom in a bathrobe and holding a toothbrush, staring into the bathroom “what, uh, exactly happened in here?” she asked, I leaned into the door of the bathroom, not all that surprised at what I saw. The floor was one big puddle, the shower curtain was half in and half out the tub, toothpaste was splattered on the mirror and the sink, and a sopping wet towel was hanging off the sink. As I watched, it slowly slipped off, hitting the floor with a wet splat “Alex, what _happened_ in here?” Mom repeated

“Astra got to the shower before you did” I answered bluntly

“ _Astra_ did this?” Mom asked, I nodded

“Oh, yeah, she’s a slob,” I explained “you should the kitchen when she orders takeout”

“I’d rather not.” Mom muttered “where is Astra anyway?”

“She went ahead to the DEO,” I explained as I grabbed a bunch of what I started to call ‘Astra towels’ (actually they’re old towels that Kara didn’t want anymore but were still in perfectly good shape, so she gave them to me to use as rags) “she wanted to see if Winn made any progress with a defense against the parasite’s attacks,” I explained as I toweled the bathroom floor dry “OK, there you go, Mom”

“Thank you,” she tuned on the shower and looked around the room, shaking her head “you really must love her to be able to put with that every morning” she said, I nodded as I gathered the wet towels

“I do,” I said “and I’ve learned to take a shower first too” she laughed as I closed the door


	13. Polls and Parasites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Kara have a talk and Winn and Astra have an argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA! Chapter Thirteen of Part Five of What we are. Just caught the new episode, I was not impressed, I hate how they're torturing Alex with the whole 'is she or isn't she?' thing, ah, but anyway, here's some General Danvers for my fellow GD shippers who are equally annoyed/pissed that they didn't bring Astra back
> 
> ONWARDS!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

I ran a hand through my hair as I got off the elevator

“Lucy, hey,” I greeted “oh, hi Siobhan” I ground my teeth together at the sight of Lucy with her, she nodded at Lucy and turned to walk away

“Kira,” she said to me, she stopped and looked me up and down “hmm, I can’t decide what I hate more, your dress or your face,” she shrugged “it’s a tie” she said as she walked away

“Ouch,” Lucy said as she came over to me “you OK?” she asked

“I’m great,” I said, I could feel my mouth pulling into a creepy smile “I could throw her into space,” I said “I have dreams about doing that” I said

“OK,” Lucy laughed “here, let’s go talk” she said, pointing to James’ office

“Where’s James?” I asked, noticing the empty room

“Ah, he’s at S.T.A.R. Labs photographing the crime scene” Lucy answered

“Oh no” I groaned

“Oh, yes,” Lucy laughed, she held out her phone “’Superwoman saves Supergirl’, ‘Dark Angel? Can we trust her?’, oh here’s my favorite ‘Super Friends or Super Foes?’, your aunt is headline news all over the city, Lois even called me early this morning to yell at me for not telling her that National City had a new superhero on the scene”

“She’s going to kill me” I groaned

“Who, Astra? Probably not, your sister on the other hand…,” she looked back at her phone “there’s even a poll on how Astra related to you”

“A poll?” Lucy nodded

“And a whopping seventy-five percent of people seem to think that she’s your secret hot, older girlfriend”

“Ew! Lucy!”

“…while only five percent think that she’s your aunt, but even then, they think that she’s Superman’s mother, apparently”

“What about the other percent?” I wondered

“Hmm, most people here seem to think that she’s Superman’s wife, or otherwise related to him, which, you know, she kind of is, through you”

“Great, even my aunt gets tied to Superman” I grumbled, Lucy shrugged

“Well, let’s face it, he’s been doing this longer than you have, so, he’s more popular. It’s like with any other celebrity, people get excited if they meet the guy who blow-dried Angelina Jolie’s hair at the saloon just one time”

“That’s not making me feel any better”

“It wasn’t suppose to”

“Why am I friends with you again?”

“Because you have the hots for my ex,” she grinned “that’s right, I know” I tried to play it off

“OK, so, I like James, I like ice cream too, doesn’t mean I want to date ice cream”

“Just ask him out” she said, I admit it, I whined

“Lucy! I can’t!”

“Why not?” she asked “for god’s sakes, I’m his _ex_ and I’m giving you my _blessing_ here, what more do you want? A burning bush?”

“I can’t!” I insisted, she shook her head

“Unbelievable!” she snarled as she stalked out  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“Hey, can you hand me the…Philips head screwdriver?” Winn asked “and could you stop pacing, please?” I all but threw the requested tool at him “hey! Easy! What’s wrong with you?”

“Kara almost _died_ , Winn!” I yelled “my _niece_ almost died, we need that protection!”

“You think I don’t know that?” he demanded “I’m trying my hardest here! It’s not my fault that this… _thing_ …is being so stubborn!” he gestured to the kryptonite inhibitor

“Then try _harder_!”

“Hey, hey!” Alex stormed into the lab “what is going on? Half the DEO can hear you two”

“We’re….having a disagreement” I said

“Some disagreement” Winn muttered

“Watch your tone, _human_!”

“OK!” Alex stepped between us “now, Winn what is exactly the problem here?”

“OK, the only way I can adapt this thing to work against…what are we calling this guy?” Alex and I shrugged

“Parasite?” I suggested, she shrugged 

"Parasite" she said

“Parasite, OK,” Winn continued “now, I can modify this to protect you from parasite’s attacks, but if I do that, you won’t have any protection against kryptonite anymore, and even if that wasn’t a problem the only way to shield yourself would be to cover yourself in a barrier that blocks out all incoming energy”

“Including yellow sunlight” Alex finished, I sighed

“So we could be protected from his attacks, but…”

“…you wouldn’t have the strength to actually face him” Alex finished for me, I sighed

“So what do we do now?” I asked

“Well,” Winn began “right now, I am working on incorporating the anti-kryptonite tech into a suit for Kara”

“So if Faora or one of her goons shows with kryptonite, Kara will be protected” Alex reasoned, Winn nodded just as something burst into flames. With a yelp he quickly smothered it with a cloth

“That’s the plan anyway,” he muttered “it’s a little hard with all the kryptonite trace in the air”

“Kryptonite leaves a trace?” I wondered

“Sure,” Alex said “just like any other radioactive element” I frowned

“Radioactivity is basically the generation of energy, correct?” I asked as I began to think of something, Winn nodded

“Yeah, even you give off radiation” he said, I looked down at myself

“I do?”

“Of course,” Winn sighed “you’re Kryptonian, you’re basically a walking solar panel with great hair," 

" _Very_ great hair" Alex agreed, grinning

"Yeah, well," Winn cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable "anyway, Astra, whenever you use your powers you give off a unique EM field, all Kryptonians do”

“You didn’t know that?” Alex asked, I shrugged

“After Fort Rozz crashed the Kryptonian prisoners were more concerned with mastering our new abilities, not with how they worked,” I explained, I turned back to Winn “so, I generate an electromagnetic field whenever I use my powers?” Winn nodded

“Yeah, in fact that’s how I found Alex after Non kidnapped her, I just tracked his specific EM field all the way to Fort Rozz” he explained, Alex and I looked at each other, clearly having the same idea

“If parasite drained Kara’s EM field…” she began

“...then he might actually be generating it himself” I finished, Winn looked up, grinning

“Hey, here’s a thought. Why don’t we all get silly and go down to S.T.A.R. Labs with some Geiger counters?” he suggested

“I’ll drive” Alex said

"Hey," Winn said as we followed her out of the room "sorry about snapping at you" he apologized

"I should be apologizing to _you_ " I said, he shrugged

"Don't worry about it," he said "she's your family, I get it" he said, his phone chirped "oh, hey news update about Superwoman...huh there's a poll about how you and Supergirl are related"

"Really?" Alex asked "what are the choices?"


	14. Cops and Aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets jealous, Kara gets drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, new chapter to Part Five of What we are! now a bit of back story, as much as I hate how the writers are torturing Alex with the whole 'is she or isn't she gay?' thing, I have to admit I like Maggie Sawyer, and I liked the whole alien bar, so both of those have been included into this universe, as has been the scene from the new episode where Kara's gets tipsy, not really driving the plot of Part Five here, but just too funny to resist
> 
> And here we go

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“I still can’t believe it!” I snarled

"I still can't belive we lost the trail at S.T.A.R. Labs" Winn muttered derjedidly 

"It was a good idea, Winn," Alex assured him "its not your fault that the trail had already faded," she reminded him, she glanced at me "and as for your problem, it’s a poll by the _Metropolis Inquisitor_ ,” she dismissed “they’re tabloid rag that most people use to line their cat’s litter box with, don’t let it get to you”

“I don’t get why everybody keeps thinking Kara, or Supergirl, is gay?” Winn wondered from the backseat as he continued fiddling with the Geiger counter

“Because most people see a strong, independent woman and automatically think ‘butch lesbian’,” Alex explained “I mean, you will not _believe_ the amount of times people have thought that I was gay just because I can shoot a gun and I happen to ride a motorcycle”

“Wait, you’re not gay?” Winn asked, surprised

“I rest my case,” Alex sighed “no, Winn, I’m not, I don’t believe in labels, I’m attracted to whoever I’m attracted to, man or woman”

“Hey, I’m not complaining, just surprised is all” Winn said

“I will never understand Humanity’s obsession with homosexuality,” I said “being attracted to, or falling in love with one person of the same gender does not make you ‘different’, it just means that you’re attracted to someone of the same gender”

“I’m guessing that Kryptonians didn’t have anything against gays or lesbians?” Winn asked

“We don’t even have a word for ‘homosexual’,” I explained “throughout our entire history, despite the centuries of war and bloodshed, our wars were fought for things like land or even love, but we never fought over race, or religion, or sexuality, such things were never seen as anything of significance, at the most homosexuality was seen as unusual, but nothing of real importance”

“So, if you didn’t have a word for ‘homosexual’ what did you say if someone was, you know, not straight?” Winn wondered

“Well, the closest word we had is ‘tu-vu-la’” I answered

“What does _that_ mean?” Alex asked

“There’s no exact translation. But I think the closest in English would be ‘mirror love’ or ‘love of the same form’” she snorted

“Here we call that ‘narcissism’,” she said “so, if I was on Krypton and you and I were dating, no one would have any problem with it?” she asked

“Not with the fact that we’re the same gender, no, they might have had a ‘problem’, as you say, with my dating a member of a ‘primitive’ species however”

“I’ll remind you of that ‘primitive’ crack next time you want to stream _Call the Midwife_ ” she warned

“By Krypton’s standards, Alex, Earth is at least two centuries behind, possibly more,” I explained “and besides, I never said that I had a problem with dating a ‘primitive’ only that other Kryptonians might, in fact when I was an adolescent, I was teased not being ‘gay’ as you put it, but for the fact that I had relationships with non-Kryptonians”

“Why would they have a problem with that?” Winn asked “I mean if aliens were, you know, common on Krypton”

“Because, despite all our science and technology and boasting about how ‘enlightened’ we were, my people were surprisingly xenophobic,” I explained “Krypton was like the United States in terms of our relations to other species, we were a superpower in that regard, even if our enemies outmatched us in terms of weaponry we still held significant political power. In fact many of the campaigns I led were often won not by superior weapons, but by the High Council issuing a threat to cut off trade or exports to a certain world. As a result we became…’overconfident’, we began to look down on many other species as, if not ‘inferior’, than at least as…”

“…primitive” Winn finished, I nodded

“Exactly”

“God,” Alex laughed “you know this explains _so_ much about Kara’s early years”

“Such as?” I asked, always eager to hear about Kara’s early years on Earth, it reminded me that I wasn’t alone as a stranger in this strange world, and it made me think less about the time I missed with her

“Well,” Alex began “I remember one time, a few weeks after she came to live with us, we were in the car, filling up at the gas station, and Kara asks what we’re doing, I explained it as best I could, and she just wrinkles her nose and says how she can’t believe that we’re still using ‘primitive fossil fuels’”

“Neither can I,” I said “the amount of hydrocarbons you pollute the atmosphere with on a daily basis is astounding”

“OK, calm down” Alex soothed

“So, Astra,” Winn began “what are you? I mean by Earth standards, gay, straight?”

“By your ‘standards’ I would most likely be considered a…‘lesbian with tendencies towards bisexuality’” I explained

“Really?” Alex asked, clearly intrigued

“Hey, look, this is my stop!" Winn said suddenly

"No it isn't" I said, I frowned at a buzzing from my cell phone

"You got a text" Winn said

"I know" I said as I pulled out the device

> From Maggie  
>  Met me at the bar 2nite got info on parasite

It read

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“So, you mind telling me what we’re doing in a dark alleyway at nine o'clock in the evning in the bad part of town?” Alex asked later that night as I landed, Kara gently touching down next to us “and just who is Maggie and why does she have your cell phone number?” Alex continued

“And why am I dressed like Kara Danvers instead of Supergirl?” Kara asked, in answer I walked up the heavy metal door at the end of the alley, knocking once on it’s surface, a viewing point opened and a pair of gleaming eyes peered out at me

“Dollywood” I said simply, the grate closed and the door opened, I beckoned Alex and Kara inside. the door lead into a dusty, smoke-filled bar

“ _This_ is your information source?” Alex asked skeptically “a dive bar?”

“Is this place even safe?” Kara wondered, wrinkling her nose in clear disgust

“Look around, what do you see?” I asked

“People who have made poor life choices?” Alex wondered

“A _lot_ of people who made poor life choices” Kara added

“Look again” I encouraged, I watched as they looked around, clearly seeing the subtitle signs that these people weren’t human. A woman with scaly skin sitting in a far corner, another woman whose eyelids closed vertically, a man with a tail. Slowly Alex and Kara turned to stare at me

“You’re just _full_ of surprise lately, aren’t you?” Alex asked

“What _is_ this place?” Kara asked amazed

“This is a safe haven,” I explained “a place where off-worlders can come and be themselves without fear of persecution” I continued as I guided them both to a table

“How did I not know about this place?” Kara asked, her eyes wide

“Oh, yeah, like either of us would let you come here,” Alex muttered as we sat down “so, your contact, this ‘Maggie’, she’s an alien I take it?” she asked

“Nope, human,” we all looked up at the brunette who came to sit down next to us “Maggie Sawyer,” she introduced herself “NCPD Science Division”

“Science Division?” Kara echoed

“We basically investigate the strange, weird, and unexplained,” Maggie answered “you know, the stuff you find in a city with a big alien population,” she smiled at Kara “you must be Kara, your aunt here told me a lot about you” she said

“Uh, thanks” Kara blushed

“So, I’m still confused,” Maggie continued “is it ‘Kara Zor-El’ or ‘Kara Danvers’?” Alex glowered at me

“Uh, it’s Kara Danvers” Kara answered as Alex continued glowering at me

“Hmm, and so I’m guessing the girl who’s giving Astra here a death glare is Alex Danvers?” Maggie wondered, Alex nodded stiffly

“Alex Danvers, FBI” she introduced herself, Maggie smirked

“No you’re not,” she said “not unless the Bureau suddenly decided to let aliens join,” she took a sip of her beer “I’ve heard of a black ops group that tracks down aliens, you’re DEO aren’t you?”

“You said you had information” I encouraged, Maggie nodded and held up the file folder she had had tucked under her arm

“More information on Rudy Jones’ background,” she explained as she dropped the folder onto the table “your boy was a sicko from the start, the kid had a habit of torturing animals when he was little”

“Says here when he was eight he got into a fight with another boy and actually bit off his ear” Alex read

“Nine guy” Kara muttered, Maggie nodded

“Yeah, real nice,” she said sarcastically as she finished her beer and stood up “well, I got to go, hey Astra, maybe we can do this again sometime”

“Maybe” I agreed, Maggie waved to us as she turned and left

“You two seem close” Alex remarked suddenly

“We are friends, Alex, nothing more” I assured her, she just nodded

“There a bathroom around here?” she asked, I nodded

“Over there, past the jukebox” I directed, she nodded and quickly got up and left

“So…,” Kara began “does Alex have anything to worry about?”

“No” I said firmly, she held up her hands

“Hey, I’m just asking”

“Then ask something else” I suggested

“OK…why am I dressed like myself instead of Supergirl? I mean if this is a place where aliens can be themselves why shouldn't I come in as Supergirl?”

“Because,” I began “firstly, Supergirl is not who you really are, that’s just a different side of you, and secondly people knowing you’re an alien and knowing that you’re Supergirl are two vastly different things, and I for one would like to keep them that way” she nodded

“Makes sense—oh,” we both blinked in surprise as a server came over and put down two glasses in front of us “we didn’t order anything” Kara said

“Compliments of giggles over there” the server pointed at another table

“Oh, she’s…blue” Kara said surprised as a giggling blue-skinned alien waved at us 

“She’s an Aldebran isn’t she?” I asked, the server nodded and then gestured to the two glasses

“Aldebran whiskey,” she explained “toxic to humans, but for you two a refreshing cocktail. Enjoy”

“I’ve never had Aldebran whiskey,” Kara said, staring at her glass “actually I’ve never had whiskey” she added

“You don’t have to drink it, Kara,” I told her as I took a sip from my own glass “in fact,” I added after tasting the drink “I wouldn’t advise it, I’d forgotten how strong this was”

“No,” Kara frowned “I’m going to try it” with that she picked up the glass and downed the small amount in one gulp. I watched as her eyes widened

“Are you all right?” I asked, she nodded as she coughed and gagged

“Fine!” she wheezed “oh boy! That’s strong!” she leaned back in her seat fanning herself

“Hey,” Alex suddenly came back over, looking somewhat flustered “uh, something with green skin just tried to pick me up in the women’s room” she announced, I frowned

“Did it have yellow spots?” I asked, she nodded “oh, then that’s Mary, she’s harmless”

“You sure?” I nodded

“She’s just lonely” I explained

“Hey!” Kara said suddenly, she smiled at Alex “you know, you, you look like my shister” she slurred

“Is she slurring her words?” Alex asked, Kara frowned

“Am I?” she asked “chocshelet” she tried, she repeated the effort twice more, each time the word came out more mangled than before

“Astra! What did you do?” Alex demanded “did you get her _drunk?!_ ”

“I did nothing of the sort," I defended myself "and how do you know that _I_ am the one who is at fault?”

“Because you’re the ‘fun aunt’!" Alex argued "of course you’re at fault!” she explained “hell, you probably would’ve bought her her first beer if you could have”

“Most likely” I agreed, Alex sighed

“Come on, let’s her home,” she grabbed one of Kara’s arms “come on, up we go” she said

“Hey, I like it here!” Kara protested

“We’re just taking you home” I said as I grabbed her other arm, Kara laughed

“Well, I’m not flying, that’s for sure!” she frowned and stared down at her feet “am I?” she asked

“I hate you” Alex glowered at me

“You wouldn’t be the first” I nodded


	15. Hangovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Astra get a tipsy Kara home and confront Eliza, then an intimate moment, and then the morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Chapter Fifteen of Part Five of What we are, I'm actually almost done with this installment, a few more chapters then its own to the next
> 
> By the way, hey RenaM, I was wrong, I'm updating today

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

Agreeing that we didn’t want to leave Kara to suffer the end result of alcohol consumption alone, we took her back home with us. Having to carry both Alex and a squirming Kara whilst flying was not in anyway enjoyable or comfortable for me, but I somehow managed to make it the apartment and through the window without dropping either of them, a miracle if there ever was one

“No, I don’t wanna sit down!” Kara whined even as she collapsed into a chair, she hiccupped as she blinked at me “wow, you’re really tall” she giggled

“Well, at least she’s a _happy_ drunk,” Alex shrugged “god, how much did you let her drink?” I scowled at her

“I didn’t ‘let’ her drink it,” I snarled “I even tried to dissuade her from drinking it”

“How many did she have?” Alex sighed, clearly not wanting to argue with me

“One” I answered

“One?” Alex repeated, looking surprised

“Aldebran whiskey is very…potent,” I explained “in fact to humans it’s quite toxic”

“But to Kryptonian metabolisms it’s just a nice buzz,” Alex reasoned, she nodded to Kara “unless you’ve never drunk alcohol before. God, Mom’s going to kill me!”

“No, she’ll probably kill me,” I said “you’re her sister, you’re expected to be a negative influence, I am her aunt; I am expected to be a positive role model”

“True, but everyone slips up sometimes,” Alex and I turned to see Eliza standing in the doorway. She nodded to Kara, who was still giggling at something only she found amusing “will she be all right?” Eliza asked

“She should be,” I answered “although she may suffer the aftereffects in the morning”

“Hello hangover,” Alex muttered “hey, Kara, want to know what a hangover feels like?” she teased

“OK!” Kara giggled “shounds sfun” she leaned her head back and promptly passed out

“Thank god,” Alex muttered “OK, I’ll put her in the guestroom, unless anyone just wants to leave her on the couch?”

“No,” Eliza decided “put her in the guestroom, if she’s going to feel like how I think she’s going to feel, I want her to be comfortable, at least for a while” she explained, Alex nodded and then easily lifted Kara into her arms and carried her into the guestroom

“Eliza…” I began, she shook her head

“Don’t apologize,” she said “I heard enough to know that you wouldn’t let Kara endanger herself”

“I wouldn’t” I swore, Eliza nodded

“I know” she said

“That’s the second time you’ve done that to me” I said, Eliza frowned

“Done what?” she asked

“Snuck up on me, even without my enhanced senses it was rare for someone to sneak up on me” I explained, Eliza smiled

“Maybe that means that you’re comfortable around me, comfortable enough to let your guard down” she suggested, I smiled back

“Perhaps” I agreed as Alex emerged from the guestroom

“OK, Sleeping Beauty’s all tucked in,” she announced “so should we,” she said to me, I nodded “Mom, you going to be OK with the couch?” she asked, Eliza nodded

“I’ll be fine sweetheart,” she said, she gently touched me on the arm as Alex disappeared into the bedroom “thank you” she said

“For what?” I asked

“For making Alex smile”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As I closed the bedroom door behind me I took in the sight before me. Alex had already gotten into bed, she had her knees drawn up, balancing something on the tops of her thighs as she rested against the pillows. She looked beautiful, the lamp on the side table caught the red highlights in her hair, making it shimmer

“What are you looking at?” she asked suddenly

“You,” I answered honestly “seeing how beautiful you are” I explained, she blushed and ducked her head, embarrassed

“I... _feel_ beautiful when you say that” she admitted as I lay down next to her

“Only when I say it?” I teased “not whenever anyone else says it?”

“Only when you say it” she agreed

“Pity,” I commented “you _are_ beautiful” I repeated, she leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips

“Go brush your teeth,” she ordered as she pulled back, she made a face “you taste like rubbing alcohol” she declared

“As you command, General” I teased  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“What are you reading?” I asked after I’d finished brushing my teeth

“Rudy Jones’ file” she answered as I crawled beneath the bedcovers and curled up next to her

“Anything of interest?” I asked as I rested my head on her shoulder, she nodded

“Actually yeah, the last two times he was arrested for pretending to be a doctor he was examined by a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist found that he was extremely clever, almost genius-level, but showed almost absolutely no remorse at the though that people may have died because he tricked them into believing he was a doctor and given them false medical advice”

“That sounds like the behavior of a sociopath” I reasoned, she nodded

“Yeah, and here’s something else,” she said “this afternoon after we dropped Winn off at CatCo, I went over the reports from the fire at S.T.A.R. Labs, turns out the fire started in a chemical storage room and, according to the NCFD, appears to be deliberate” I sat up

“You think that he started the fire knowing that Kara would come to help?” I asked, she nodded

“That’s exactly what I think,” she said, she turned to face me “all right we know from the bodies we found at S.T.A.R. Labs that he somehow feeds off the energy of living beings, that he actually needs it to survive,” I nodded “so, if he needs to eat the energy of living beings…”

“…then a powered Kryptonian would be irresistible” I finished, she sighed as she put the file down on the side table and turned out the light

“Yeah…and we have no way of stopping him” she muttered

“We’ll find a way to defeat him,” I told her as I drew her close “we defeated Indigo, Draper, and Non” I reminded her

“Yeah,” she agreed, sounding a tad more optimistic “we did”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

It was the groaning that woke me, not my alarm. Opening my eyes I saw Astra drop her pillow over her head and groan

“Hung over?” I teased

“Go away and leave me to die in peace, or I _will_ injure you” she threatened, I believed her, so I leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek

“I’m going to go check on Kara,” I whispered as softly as possible, hangovers were bad enough, hangovers with supersenses? Ouch. I quietly tiptoied out of bed, or at least as quiet as I could, Astra’s groans every time I took a step told me I could be quieter. Making my way into the living room I found Kara hunched over the kitchen island, wincing, she blinked as she looked up at me

“Am I dying?” she asked

“No, you’re not dying,” I told her “but let this be a lesson to you, the next time someone buy’s you alien booze and Astra tells you not to drink it, don’t drink it!”

“Oh, god! Don’t shout!” she whimpered

“I’m not shouting, I’m talking normally”

“Well don’t do that either!” she moaned and slowly stood up “I’m late for work” she said as she wobbled “but I feel like I’m going to throw up”

“You probably are” I told her as I grabbed her arm and gently guided her to the master bathroom, only to find Astra already inside leaning against the toilet, looking only slightly better

_“Good morning”_ she sneered when she saw us; you could practically _see_ the sarcasm in her words

“Good morning to you too,” I said “Kara needs the facilities” I explained

“Then she’ll have to fight me for them” Astra groaned, she gagged and then turned back to the bowl, I quickly turned Kara around so she didn’t have to see Astra throw up

“I think I’ll go see if the guest bathroom is free” Kara mumbled as she stumbled off to the guestroom to go bug Mom. Once I was sure she’d make it without puking along the way, I turned back to Astra

“How are you really feeling” I asked gently, crouching down next to her

“I’ll live,” she grumbled as I wet some toilet paper and wiped her chin “thank you” she said, I nodded

“I’ve been hung over before” I told her, she nodded

“Yes, Eliza told me about your…partying habits?” I nodded “I’m glad to see that you no longer drink yourself into a stupor, love”

“So am I,” I agreed “c’mon, why don’t we share a shower?” I offered, she nodded  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the shower Astra looked a little alive (she wasn’t wincing every time a siren went off three blocks down) as we sat down to breakfast (toast for her, a bagel with lox for me) Kara stumbled out of the guestroom, Mom in tow

“Feeling better?” I asked, she nodded as Mom gently steadied her

“I’m going to drive her home so she can change before work” Mom explained

“OK” I said

“Eliza,” Astra called out as they reached the door “when you’re done with Kara, why don’t Alex and I take you out to lunch?” she offered “our treat” Mom smiled

“That’s sounds lovely, Astra, thank you,” she said “I just need to get Kara to work safely then I will happily take you up on that offer,” she explained “where do you want to go?” she asked

“Don’t know,” I said “why don’t you come back here once your done and we’ll decide then?” I suggested, she nodded as she and Kara slipped out the door. Once they were gone, I turned to Astra “I don’t remember offering to take Mom out to lunch”

“I want to,” she said “it’s the least I can do to thank her for her kindness” I nodded

“She told about your little chat a few nights ago” I said

“Yes, even after learning about all the things that I have done, your Mother still offers me nothing but kindness and understanding,” she said “lunch is the least I can do to repay her”

“You know,” I began “deep down, you’re a real softy” she chuckled

“Would you have me any other way?”

“Nope”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

By the time that Mom got back it was already a little after noon, Astra’s hangover seemed to have worn off by that point and we were brainstorming lunch ideas when came back

“How about a picnic?” Mom suggested “its lovely day”

“What it’s a ‘picnic’?” Astra wondered, straightening her t-shirt (this one read ‘I lost my number. Can I have yours?’), I glanced at Mom

“You want to take this or should I?”

“She’s your girlfriend” I laughed and turned to Astra

“Well, basically we pack some food, go out, find a nice quiet spot outside in the shade, spread a blanket on the ground, and then sit down and eat” I explained

“Sounds unsanitary,” Astra commented, she grinned “it also sounds like what my mothers used to do every time we left the city”

“Great, a picnic it is” I declared as Mom nodded “there’s a sandwich shop a few blocks down,” I said “we can stop there, pick up some sandwichs and then go to the park” Mom nodded

“That’s a good idea,” Mom said “because you’re cupboards are practically bare” 

“Blame this one,” I said as I pointed at Astra “between her and Kara it’s a miracle I don’t starve” I explained, Astra just scoffed as she threw me my leather jacket

“Astra,” Mom began suddenly as we headed to the door “I’m sorry, but did you say ‘your mothers’, as in plural?”

“Yes, both of my parents were women,” Astra explained casually, in the same tone you’d use to say something like ‘both of my parents had red hair’ “is that a problem?” she asked, Mom smiled and shook her head

“No, I was just curious, that’s all” Astra nodded as she stood up, grabbing her jacket (a nice, and expensive, leather jacket that I’d bought for her after she said she liked mine, I figured it was safer than have her risk ruining my jacket) and shrugging it on, she then grabbed a black beret that was sitting on the couch and put it on, pulling it back

“Shall we?” she asked, I rolled my eyes

“What is it with you and hats?” I wondered as we walked out

“I like hats” Astra shrugged  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About fifteen minutes later we were all sitting down on a blanket under a big tree in Justice Park

“This is nice” Astra commented

“Yeah” I agreed

“All right,” Mom upended the big paper grocery bag we were using as a picnic basket (I don’t have an actual basket) and dumped out the sandwiches and a few pieces of fruit and some water bottles “dig in” Mom declared as the last sandwich fell out, Astra nodded as she dug through the pile of sandwiches, clearly looking for something specific, while Mom and I just grabbed a sandwich at random and started eating

“What are you doing?” I finally asked

“I am looking for the sandwich I ordered,” she answered “ah” she plucked out a very large bundle of paper and greedily unwrapped it and happily took a bite

“I don’t remember that one, what is it?” Mom asked

“Pastrami on rye with sauerkraut and mustard,” I answered “extra sauerkraut, extra mustard, extra pastrami”

“I like it” Astra said, as if she was daring me to say otherwise

“Good, because I’m not kissing you with that breath” I said

“Yes, you will” Mom said

“You sound certain of that, Eliza”

“I am.” Mom replied, she smirked at me “I’ve seen the way you look at her, you would kiss her even if she did have bad breath”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed, I frowned as Astra suddenly stopped eating “what is it?” I asked

“It’s quiet” she said, I frowned and looked around, the park was practically deserted, even though we were pretty far from the beaten path, we should still have heard something, but no, not even birds, the only sounds I could hear was traffic in the distance

“Too quiet” I agreed, reaching for my gun, but before I could get a good grip on it something suddenly came flying out of nowhere and slammed into Astra, carrying her a good six feet away.

No, not something, _someone_

Parasite

**_“Need it, give it to me!”_** he rasped as I grabbed my gun and fired, landing several good shots to his back, only to see the bullets just bounce off. A chill suddenly went through me, as I realized that Rudy Jones didn’t just drain Kara’s powers, he stole them. But my shots were enough to distract him so that Astra could get to her feet. She drew back her fist and punched Jones across the jaw, but he swung out an arm and suddenly had her by the throat **_“better…stronger…more!”_** he rasped, I started shooting again, emptying the entire clip into his back for all the good it did, I could only watch, helpless, as Astra kicked and squirmed in his grip, clearly getting weaker by the second as Jones drained her. There was a sudden roar, like a car engine, and a DEO-issue SUV suddenly slammed into Jones, pinning him against a tree and throwing Astra free

“Astra!” Mom and I both rushed to her side. She was lying in the dirt, shivering and twitching, she was pale and gaunt, like all of Jones other victims, she looked…drained, emaciated, like she had been literally sucked dry “hey, hey, I got you!” I dropped to my knees, grabbing her arm; I winced at how cold her skin was, like ice

“A-A-Alex,” she stammered out “I c-can’t f-feel my l-limbs”

“They’re still there,” I told her as I automatically checked her pulse, which was faint and erratic “just rest, we’ll get you out of here” I looked up at a sudden crunching sound, Jones was clearly still alive and was now struggling to get out from behind the SUV. Both the driver and passenger side doors opened and Winn and J’onn jumped out, rushing over to our side

“How is she?” J’onn asked

“She’s weak,” I explained “she’s, she’s fading,” I took a breath and did my best to distance myself like J’onn taught me, I could break down later, after Astra was safe “how did you find us?” I asked

“Thank Mr. Schott for that,” J’onn answered as he held up a hand to his ear “this is Hensahw, we have an agent down, I repeat, agent down,” he listened for a few minutes “medivac’s on the way, ETA ten minutes” he announced

“We don’t have ten minutes!” Winn yelped as Jones suddenly literally tore the SUV in half, finally freeing himself

**_“GIVE IT TO ME!!”_** he roared, lunging, I watched as J’onn surged to his feet, changing as he did, by the time he was fully upright he was already in his true form. I watched as Jones lunged for J’onn, his claws scratching at J’onn’s armor, but strangely, nothing happened, he didn’t appear to affect J’onn at all **_“not working,”_** Jones rasped **_“why?”_** he wondered as J’onn grabbed his arm and swung him into the ground

**_“Feeding time’s over”_** J’onn declared, slamming his fist into Jones’ face, pummeling him into the ground. With a shriek, Jones suddenly shot up, knocking J’onn away, but before Jones could attack him something suddenly smashed into him

Kara

She stood there, looking mad as hell in her costume as Jones staggered to his feet, while J’onn stood up and changed back into Hank Henshaw, and I suddenly saw why he did. There were several more roars of car engines and four more SUVs pulled up, agents in full tac gear pouring our, weapons trained on Jones

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!” someone bellowed, Jones tuned, lunging for and taking out one agent just as the others opened fire. Shrieking, Jones dropped the agent he had already drained and leapt up, clearing a distance of at least two blocks in one jump

“Stand down!” J’onn ordered “get the medics over her, NOW!!”

“Alex” I turned back to Astra

“Hey, stay with me,” I encouraged “Astra, stay with me, don’t close your eyes, Astra? Stay with me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry!


	16. The Calm and the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex watches over Astra as she recovers from Parasite's attack, Eliza finally meets J'onn, Winn and Alex have a talk, Siobhan gets even nastier, and then Parasite returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Chapter Sixteen of Part Five of What we are!! I'm almost done with this one, probably two, maybe three more chapters to go, I want thank everyone for commenting and leaving kudos and I hope you'll stay with me for the next installment of What we are and the update of Strange Visitor

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

I don’t remember the trip back to the DEO; I don’t remember anything about what happened after Astra passed out. The next I knew I was sitting in a chair in one of the iso labs at the DEO, watching the sunlamps slowly bring Astra back

“Hey,” I looked up to see Winn hovering in the doorway “how’s she doing?” he asked as he stepped inside the room

“Good,” I grunted “the sunlamps are bringing her back”

“That’s good to hear,” Winn pulled a chair over to sit next to me “what about you?”

“Me?” I laughed “I’m going to be having nightmares for a year after this,” I frowned at him “don’t you have to be at work?” I asked, he shrugged

“Took a sick day,” he explained “figured helping track down the…purple people eater was more important than getting yelled at by some idiot who got a virus because he was downloading porn at work”

“That actually happens?” I asked, he nodded slowly

“More often than you’d think,” he chuckled and nodded towards Astra “you know, besides James, she and Kara are the only people who, when they first met me, didn’t instantly think I was just some nerd who wasn’t worth their time”

“I didn’t--” I tried

“Yes you did,” he said gently “even if it was only for a few seconds, and that’s OK, I am a nerd, I admit it and I won’t apologize for it, there’s no shame in it”

“No there isn’t” I said firmly, he nodded

“But when I met Astra, she didn’t look at me that way, you remember?” I nodded

“Yeah, she shook your hand very respectfully and thanked you for helping to save my life after Non abducted me”

“I always wondered why she wanted to be friends me,” he muttered “besides the whole ‘I-remind-her-of-her-crazy-dead-husband-as-a-kid’ thing” I chuckled

“Maybe it’s because, on Krypton, they respected scientists and ‘nerds’,” I said “from what Kara and Astra have told me, they didn’t have sports heroes, or war heroes, they had science heroes”

“We did,” Winn and I both looked up to see Mom and Kara walk into the room, Kara was fiddling with a simple white candle in her hands “scientists, not movie stars or football players, were our celebrities,” she explained softly as she lit the candle and put it down on the table next to Astra’s bed, Kara smiled at Winn as she stepped back “you’d be a big star there,” she told him, she nodded to Astra “how she’s doing?” she asked me as she and Mom each pulled a chair over and sat down next to me

“Better,” I answered “the sunlamps are slowly bringing her back, but not fast enough to help you take on Parasite”

“I don’t want her to help me, I want her _safe_ ,” Kara argued, she sighed “I can’t _believe_ I ever wanted her to put on a cape and be ‘superwoman’”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting your family by your side, sweetie,” Mom said gently “but,” she shook her head “she’s not your playmate anymore,” she reminded Kara “she’s changed, you both have”

“I know,” Kara nodded “but…is it so _wrong_ to just…. _want_ her to be with me?” she asked

“No,” I said “not at all. Kara, Astra’s your family, no one would think you were wrong for wanting her by your side again” I told her

“Your sister’s right” we tuned as J’onn quietly walked into the room. Instantly Mom bolted up, putting herself between us and J’onn

“Stay away from them!” she ordered

“Mom, it’s OK!” I stood up, putting a hand on her arm, she shook her head

“No, whatever _that_ is, it killed your father!”

“No, he didn’t!” I said, I moved around her so that I could look her in the eye “this is who tried to save Dad” I explained, I watched as Mom stared at me, confused

“What?”

“The real Hank Henshaw blackmailed Dad into joining the DEO,” I explained “and he killed Dad when Dad tried to save an innocent person,” I gestured to J’onn “this person. His name is J’onn, he’s a shape-shifter from Mars” she stared at me, looking back and forth between me and J’onn

“Mars?” she repeated, she stared at him “is it true?” she finally asked

“What’s true, Doctor is that Jeremiah Danvers was one of the best people I eve met,” he explained “your husband sacrificed himself so that I could live, and I’ve been trying to honor that sacrifice every day since”

“And he’s saved my life more times than I can count,” I added “and Kara’s, and you saw him save Astra today. You can trust him, Mom” she nodded slowly

“I…” she began, J’onn nodded softly

“You have questions,” he said, Mom nodded, he gestured out to the hall “I’ll try to answer them as best I can” he said gently, Mom glanced back at me

“You can trust him,” I repeated, nodding slowly she stood up and followed J’onn out of the room “wow” I sighed

“That actually went better than I expected” Winn commented

“What were you expecting?” I wondered, he shrugged

“I don’t know, more shouting if anything” he sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck

“Well, I just glad that you and J’onn found Aunt Astra in time” Kara said

“Yeah, actually that reminds me, how did you find us anyway?” I wondered, Winn grinned

“Well, after we lost the radiation trail at S.T.A.R. Labs, I got to thinking, maybe we couldn’t track him, but maybe we could find out when he was attacking”

“How’d you figure that?” I asked

“Well, I looked back over the satellite recordings from the DEO satellite and found that when Parasite attacked Kara and Astra at S.T.A.R. Labs the radiation readings spiked, and I realized that whenever he, you know, ate, the same radiation spike appeared, so…”

“….so all you had to do was scan the city and look for that spike in radiation,” I realized, he nodded “except now we’ve got a new problem, he’s stolen Kara’s powers, at least her invulnerability and speed and strength”

“I’ll still kick his butt” Kara vowed

“Oh, I know you will,” I said “but right now we need to find out a way to actually stop him from feeding off you again,” she nodded as her cell phone buzzed, she pulled it out a groaned “Cat on the warpath again?” I asked, she nodded as she answered it, apologizing to Cat Grant all the while as she walked out

“Glad I’m not Cat’s assistant” Winn muttered

“So am I,” I agreed “hey, Winn, you ever think about…?”

“…working for the government?” he teased “your boss already made me that offer” he explained

“And?” I asked

“And…I told him I’d think about it” he answered

“Oh, c’mon Winn, it’s a no-brainer,” I encouraged “you could actually doing something worthwhile instead of debugging a porn addict’s computer” he nodded

“I know, but…I like working at CatCo” he told me

“Well, at least think about it,” I said “because, seriously, your potential is _wasted_ at CatCo” he grinned

“Thanks,” he frowned “hey, the candle, does it mean something else on Krypton?” he pointed to the candle that Kara had left

“That’s an old Kryptonian tradition,” I explained “Kryptonians believed that when you dreamed your soul actually wandered away from your body, the light’s supposed to guide the soul back to your body”

“And what about when you’re sick?”

“When you’re sick apparently the candle’s supposed to serve the same purpose, the only difference being that when you’re just sleeping the candle is supposed to burn out by itself, if it burns out when you’re sick than it means that the person’s soul has come back to their body and is on the mend, but if the candle melts down without burning out…” I trailed off, not really wanting to finish that sentence. Winn nodded slowly

“Then it means they’re not going to get better” he said softly, I nodded

“Yeah”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

I didn’t really remember coming back to CatCo from the DEO, I didn’t really remember changing out of my Supegirl costume, or getting on the elevator, or even walking into the office. It wasn’t until Siobhan made some crack about my hair that I suddenly realized where I was

“Hey!” I looked up to see Lucy marching over “I don’t what you’re problem is lady,” she snapped at Siobhan “but show some respect, her aunt just got mugged and is in the hospital in pretty bad shape”

“Don’t care,” Siobhan said “if she can’t focus on her job then maybe she shouldn’t be here” Lucy grabbed my arm before I really did throw Siobhan into space

“That’s enough,” we all looked up to see Ms. Grant walking towards, she looked at Siobhan “you, go home, consider yourself on unpaid vacation for the next week,” she ordered, she turned to me and Lucy “Lane, see to it that Kara’s all right” she then spun around and marched back into her office. Siobhan stared at us, or at me actually, looking furious

“You heard her,” Lucy said, she ginned and waved “bye” Siobhan spat out something I won’t bother repeating and stalked off “you OK?” Lucy asked, I nodded

“Yeah, thanks, if you hadn’t held me back, I don’t know what I would’ve done; I mean I really wanted to--”

“I know, I know, you want to throw her into space,” Lucy laughed, she nodded to James office “come on and sit down”

“Hey,” James said as we walked in “Winn told me about what happened,” he said as Lucy closed the door “how’s Astra?” he asked

“Better” I said as I paced back and forth, furious over Siobhan

“Siobhan was anything but sympathetic when I told her that Kara’s aunt was in the hospital and to lay off her” Lucy explained to James

“She actually told me that if I couldn’t focus on my job than I shouldn’t be here!” I snarled, Lucy stood up and put her hand on my arm

“Hey, calm down there Supergril, nobody expects you to be super all the time” she told me

“She’s right, Kara,” James said “you’re allowed to be upset over what happened to Astra”

“But I can’t,” I insisted “because Rudy Jones is still out there, he’s still out there killing people”

“Maybe,” Lucy said “but, right now, you’re not, you can just let go for a while” she told me gently. There was a sudden crash and the whole building shook, we all left James’ office to see Rudy Jones, Parasite, whatever you want to call him, standing in the middle of the room, a gapping hole in the widow behind him. He smashed through the doors of Ms. Grant’s office, threw the desk away like it was a piece of paper, and grabbed Ms. Grant by the front of her dress, lifting her up off the ground

**_“You, you talked to her,”_** he snarled, lifting her higher and higher **_“where is she? Where’s Supergirl?! Tell me or die!!!!”_**


	17. The Adventures of Superwoman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra saves the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update, cool!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“I don’t know if you can hear me,” I said as I sat back down next to her bedside “but I just want you to know that these last few months we’ve spent together have been some of the best of my life,” I squeezed Astra’s hand, which was finally starting to feel warm on it’s own and not just because of the heat from the sunlamps “you told me once that, before you met me, you were just….dust and ash, just going through the motions of life, well…I was to, joining the DEO gave me a purpose, but I still wasn’t living, I was still just going through the motions, protecting Kara was the only thing that kept me going…and then you showed up at my apartment that night, I fell in love with you then, did you know that? I didn’t fall in love with you in that warehouse, not when General Lane tortured you, but right then, seeing on my couch, hearing you say that I gave you hope…that’s what made me fall in love with you, the idea that someone finally saw me as something other than ‘Kara’s sister’,” I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead “please come back to me” I whispered

“Alex,” I looked up to see Winn standing in the doorway, he looked…frightened “James just called, Parasite just attacked CatCo looking for Kara”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

**_“Where is she?!”_** Parasite demanded

“I’m right here!” I yelled, he turned, dropping Ms. Grant like she wasn’t important “you want me?” I taunted “come get me” I turned and shot out the window, Rudy following me, actually flying after me

_“Kara, what’s going on?” _Alex’s voice suddenly asked in my ear as I zigzagged through the buildings, trying to both distract Parasite and keep him away from me__

__“I got Parasite away from Ms. Grant and the others, but he’s still after me,” I explained “Alex, he can fly”_ _

_“OK, we’re working on a way to stop him,”_ she said _“just hold on”_

__“You’d better hurry, I—” I suddenly felt something hit me at full speed, and I went crashing into the pavement. As I got my bearings back I saw Parasite standing over me_ _

**_“Got you,”_** he chuckled; he grabbed my arm and lifted me up off the ground **_“now give it to me!!”_** he roared, there was a sudden bang of a gunshot, Parasite turned and I blinked in surprise as I saw Astra’s friend Maggie Sawyer standing there holding a gun, while what looked like an entire NCPD SWAT team surrounded her, if this is what the ‘Science Division’ did, they could give the DEO a run for it’s money

“Put her down or I’m putting you down!” Maggie ordered, Parasite dropped me and turned to face her, grabbing her arm and starting to feed on her

“Leave her alone!” I jumped to my feet and shot forward, grabbing him around the neck, which made let go of Maggie. I suddenly felt one of his hands grab my arm and throw me off. He growled and grabbed me by throat, squezzing as my lifted me up off the ground as the SWAT team opened fire, the bullets just bouncing off Parasite’s skin like they do with me

**_“More, give it to me, give me more!!!”_** he groaned, it almost sounded like he was actually enjoying it, like he was getting off on feeding off me

_“Kara?” _Alex’s voice said in my ear _“Kara, talk to me! Kara’s what’s happening?!”_  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

__“Kara?!” I demanded again “damn it! Kara! Answer me!” I snarled, I still don’t know how to describe what happened next, but as I was yelling into the comm. and still not getting answer from Kara there was a beep, and looking back over my shoulder I saw that Astra’s heart rate had just jumped up by five points. As I watched her heart got faster, her pulse sped up, her oxygen saturation rose, then the candle suddenly blew out, it didn’t burn out, it _blew_ out, like someone had actually blown it out.__

__Then Astra bolted awake._ _

I don’t mean she ‘woke up’, I mean she _bolted_ up, like something out of a Frankenstein movie, she just sat straight up, sucking in a deep breath of air, like she somehow knew that Kara was in trouble. She looked around before finally spotting me

__“What happened?” she asked, her tone all business, like, well, like a general_ _

__“Parasite attacked CatCo looking for Kara, she got him away from the building, but now their fighting somewhere along Shuster Avenue” I explained, she started to tear off the wires and sensors_ _

__“I know how to stop him” she said as she got up  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _

__**Astra** _ _

_“I do_ not _approve of this plan”_ Alex snarled in my ear as I flew along Shuster Avenue

“If you have a better one, I’m open to suggestions” I answered

_“Even if this works, you don’t know that you and Kara won’t be hurt in the process,”_ Alex argued _“you could both be killed”_

“Let’s hope not,” I said, as I finally spotted Parasite “I found them!”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

__**Kara** _ _

__My vision was blurring, little tiny spots were dancing in front my eyes. Behind Parasite, the SWAT team kept firing at him, even though he was barely twitching. Something suddenly landed on his arm. It was small, about the size of an extra long can of soda, with two blinking red lights at the top and the bottom, oh yeah, it was beeping too. The little tube suddenly exploded, sending me and Parasite flying in opposite directions. As I sat up and tried to shake off the ringing in my head I looked up to see Maggie Sawyer standing over me_ _

__“You all right?” she asked_ _

__“Yeah,” I answered as I slowly sat up, luckily my powers were still working enough to keep me protected from the blast “thanks” I said_ _

__“Wasn’t me” Maggie said, turning I saw the smoke start to clear, Parasite was already getting up and shuffling towards us. There was a sudden bang and Astra suddenly landed in front of us, using herself as a shield, Parasite stopped, his eyes narrowed at her_ _

**_“Better power, stronger,”_** he rasped, his hand shot out, grabbing her arm as she raised it to shield herself **_“give it to me!”_** he hissed, tightening his grip 

Nothing happened

Astra still stood there, she didn’t get weaker, Parasite didn’t have an orgasm (ew), nothing

“Having problems, Rudy?” Astra taunted

**_“Not working,”_** he snarled **_“why?"_**

“Because you’ve already eaten,” Astra explained “you’ve been so busy _gorging_ yourself you haven’t even noticed that you’re full, that’s why you didn’t drain Supergirl just now, you can’t absorb anymore energy, ” she suddenly drew back her other arm and punched him across the jaw, sending him flying back into a parked car. She glanced at me as I walked up to her “are you all right?” I nodded

“Yeah, I’m better now that you’re better” I answered, there was a growl and we turned and saw Parasite pull himself up

“Shall we?” Astra asked, I nodded

“Let’s” I said and we both shot forward. I hit him the stomach and she aimed for his head, he swung back an arm and swatted her away like a fly, she shot up, floating up above him, shooting off a blast of heat vision, which threw him to the ground, but he quickly got up and toss my aside, for a second he was looming over me, but there was a woosh and Astra suddenly had knocked him to the ground, she suddenly grabbed the back of his head and pressed a kryptonite knife to his throat, I watched as he choked and gagged, weakened by the kryptonite

“Surrender and I might reconsider ending your miserable existence!” she snarled, Parasite choked and gagged, twisting in her grip, trying to get away from the burn of the kryptonite, finally slumping in her grip, out cold. I watched as Astra slowly pulled the hand she had on Parasite’s neck away, but kept the knife at his throat

“Hey,” I looked over to see Maggie walk over, she was rubbing at her right shoulder but other wise looked OK “you OK, Supergirl?” I nodded as she helped me up. She glanced over at Astra and smirked at her “you guys are fun” she said as a fleet of SUVs pulled up, DEO agents pouring out and surrounding Parasite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is near, there is a light at the end of the tunnel :=)


	18. Dates and Farewells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, the final chapter of Part Five of What we are, I want thank everybody for staying with me on this and hope that you'll look forward to Part Six, Thanks again :=)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

I watched as Maggie winced as Alex applied a bandage to her arm

“This place is sick,” she proclaimed, looking around the isolation lab “like James Bond villain secret lair sick,” she glanced at me “James Bond is—”

“I know who James Bond is” I said as Alex finished applying the bandage

“So,” Maggie began as she looked at her arm “am I going to live?” Alex smirked

“You’ve got minor first degree burns on your arm from Parasite’s attack and a bruised clavicle from the grenade blast,” she explained “but otherwise, you should be fine”

“Good,” Maggie quickly stood up “because I’m late”

“What, you got a hot date or something?” Alex teased, Maggie smirked at me

“Yep, and I don’t want to keep the lady waiting” I watched the surprise briefly flicker over Alex’s face for a second

“Well, hang on a minute,” she said “we need you to sign some things”

“Let me guess, the usual NDAs?” Maggie asked, we nodded, Maggie shrugged “OK, bring ‘em on,” Alex tapped her comm. and asked Agent Vasquez to bring in the forms “hey, Astra, what did you guy's _do_ with Jones anyway?” she asked me "put him in some black site I'll never hear about?"

“Something like that" I replied

“Agent Danvers here are the--Maggie?” we all turned to see Vasquez standing in the doorway, looking stunned, Maggie’s eyes widened

“Susan?” she asked, she smirked “so you work at a florists, huh?” Vasquez scowled and then thrust the stack of papers in her hands at Maggie

“Just sign these,” she snapped “and stop looking smug” she ordered as Maggie began to sign the forms

“I take it you both know each other?” I asked, Maggie smirked and nodded at Vasquez

“She’s the hot date” she explained

“I won’t be for much longer if you keep it up” Vasquez warned

“Bitch, bitch,” Maggie signed the last form and handed the stack back to Vasquez “so, just when were you planning on telling me you were DEO?” she asked “before or after you moved in?”

“I was thinking of mentioning it in passing at your funeral,” Vasquez shot back “which will be sooner rather than later if you keep doing stupid things like going up against a life-sucking monster by yourself!” she added

“There was a SWAT team with me” Maggie argued

“Yeah, for the good they did,” Vasquez rolled her eyes “for god’s sakes, Maggie!” she exclaimed “Supergirl and Astra could barely take him down, what makes you think you could?! And by the way did you maybe think to call and tell me that you were all right? That you didn’t have the life sucked out of you?!”

“OK!” Alex held up her hands “obviously you two have some problems to work out”

“No shit, Sherlock” Maggie muttered

“So,” Alex added emphatically “ _we_ ,” she gestured between me and her “are going to leave. Try not to kill each other” she added as we both hastily made our escape into the corridor

“That was…” I began

“Weird,” Alex said with a nod “I mean what are the odds that they would both end up here?”

“I don’t know,” I frowned at the sudden silence from within the room, cautiously I x-rayed through the wall, regretting it instantly “I think that they have ‘patched things up’ as you say,” Alex frowned and leaned back trying to see “no, no, don’t look” I grabbed her arm and pulled her back

“Don’t look at what?” Kara asked as she came over

“Maggie Sawyer and Vasquez are apparently dating” Alex explained 

"Really?" Kara asked, surprised, Alex nodded

“They were fighting about Maggie not knowing Susan was DEO” she added

“I don’t hear any fighting” Kara pointed out

“Well, they _were_ fighting” Alex said, Kara looked between us

“OK, what’s going on?” she asked, she squinted at the wall “why are you---NO!” she recoiled and covered her eyes, groaning

“We tried to warn you” Alex said

“Oh! Bad idea! Bad idea! Bad idea!” Kara moaned as she rubbed at her eyes

“It could be worse” I pointed out

“How?!” Kara demanded

“You could’ve seen _us_ doing that” Alex explained, Kara paled

“Don’t say that!!” she pleaded, on the point of hysterical. The door suddenly opened and both Vasquez and Maggie emerged, looking flustered and unkempt

“Uh, Agent Danvers, ma’am,” Susan began, looking between us “uh, I’d to request that—”

“Just go home with your girlfriend, Suze” Alex dismissed, Vasquez grinned and nodded

“Thanks” she said, they both turned to leave, arms entwined, when they stopped

“Hey, Danvers,” Maggie called out “maybe we should get together some time, double date,” she suggested “your niece over there can come too if she’s got a date” she pointed to Kara who was still blushing and avoiding looking at either Maggie or Susan

“Maybe” I agreed, Alex nodded,

“Yeah, maybe,” she glanced at Kara “Kara?”

“Yeahsurewhateversoundsgreat!” Kara said quickly, Maggie and Vasquez glanced at each other confused but then nodded

“Cool,” Maggie said, giving us a thumbs up “I’ll text you some time with a date”

“Cool” I repeated, they both waved good bye and then walked away, arms still entwined

“I am never using my x-ray vision ever again” Kara grumbled, Alex and I laughed, but then Alex sobered

“Did we just find our ‘couple’ friends?” she wondered

“I believe we did,” I replied, I glanced at Kara “all that’s missing now is for Kara and James to finally admit their mutual attraction for each other”

“Aunt Astra!” she whined “not you too! Even Lucy wants me to date James!”

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute,” Alex said “Lucy actually told you to ask him out?” she demanded, Kara nodded “and you said ‘no’?” another nod, Alex glanced at me “do you have Lucy’s number?”

“No, I only have your numbers, Kara’s numbers, and Winn’s” I explained, she nodded

“Call Winn then” she declared  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“You guys!” Kara whined “I told you, I’m not asking James out!”

“Shut up, this is for your own good” Alex grumbled as she continued to rifle through Kara’s clothing

“You can’t make me go” Kara declared

“I can,” I reminded her “I can quite easily pick you up and carry you to James’ apartment if need be”

“But, she won’t,” Alex said from somewhere beneath a pile of clothing “because you are going to meet at a restaurant, you’re both going to sit down and eat a very expensive dinner, which I’m paying for by the way, and then you’re going to say good night, kiss, and then you will come to my place and tell us all about it”

“How are you going to get James to agree to this, this insanity?” Kara demanded as Alex threw a dress at her

“Leave that to everyone’s favorite U.S. Army Major,” Alex proclaimed, she pointed at the dress “dress, on” she ordered  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

About fifteen minutes later we left Kara’s apartment and headed to the same restaurant that Eliza took us to earlier this week

“Why are we back here?” I asked as we climbed out the car, or should I say, Alex and I climbed out and then dragged Kara out

“Food’s good” Alex shrugged

“You thought so?” I asked, unable to fully hide the disgust in my voice “I found it bland”

“Yeah, well, that’s you,” she said, she tightened her grip on Kara’s arm “walk or I’m carrying you” she threatened, Kara huffed but walked as instructed. Inside we quickly spotted James sitting in a table in the corner with Winn and Lucy, Winn waved when he saw us

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” James wondered as Alex and I dragged Kara towards the table

“Playing matchmaker” Alex answered

“See,” Winn began “this,” he gestured between Kara and James “is a date,” he stood up “you can thank us later”

“Wait, what?” James demanded as Lucy stood up as well

“You heard the man,” she proclaimed “I don’t care what you two do, sit, eat, drink, talk, whatever, but you two are going to do something vaguely romantic” she ordered

“Bye guys” Winn waved as he and Lucy left, James turned to look at Alex and myself

“We planned this, yes,” I told him before he could ask “enjoy yourselves” I instructed  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Do you think we were wise in doing that?” I wondered as we walked into the apartment

“Yes we were,” Alex proclaimed “because you didn’t see her making googly eyes at James all this time, trust me, they had it coming”

“Who had what coming?” Eliza asked from the couch as she folded clothes into her suitcase

“Kara and James,” I answered “we played…what did you call it, love?”

“Matchmaker,” Alex supplied “you remember James, Mom,” she prompted “you met him the last time you visited” Eliza nodded

“I remember” she said, she sighed as she finished folding the clothes

“Leaving so soon, Eliza?” I asked, she nodded

“My flight leaves in a few minutes,” she explained, she stood up and approached me, pulling me into an embrace “I expect you to bring this one over to visit some time,” she instructed, nodding to Alex, I nodded back

“It would be my pleasure” I said, she smiled as she pulled back

“I mean it,” she said “no more excuses, your girlfriend can fly, Alex” she hinted 

"Very well, I might add" I interjected, Alex chuckled as Eliza took my hands in her own

“I’m very pleased to have met you, Astra In-ze” she said

“As am I to have met you, Eliza Danvers” I replied, Eliza smiled and then pulled Alex into a firm embrace

“Tell Kara I said good bye” she instructed

“Sure,” Alex said “hey, we’ll drive you to the airport” she offered, Eliza shook her head

“No, it’s fine, I called a cab,” she turned and pulled me into another embrace, placing a chaste kiss on my cheek “I want you to promise me that you, all three of you, will visit soon” she told me firmly

“You have my most solemn vow” I replied seriously, she smiled and grabbed her suitcase and turned to the door

“Good bye” she said

“Bye, Mom,” Alex said “we’ll visit soon” she said, and with that Eliza slipped out the door with a quiet wave

“I’m sad to see her go” I admitted once the door closed behind Eliza, Alex smiled as she leaned against me

“Yeah, me too,” she said, when her cell phone buzzed “oh, god, what now?” she groaned, she pulled out the device, then grinned at what she saw

“What is it?” I asked

“Text from Kara ‘dinner was great, you’re the best sister ever, sorry for doubting you both’” she read, she grinned up at me, I grinned back

“Hmm, it appears that we now have two ‘couple’ friends” I remarked, her grin widened as she looped her arms around my neck

“Looks like” she whispered as she leaned in for a kiss, one which I was more than happy to give her

**END**


End file.
